Echoes of the Past
by AbyssKeeper
Summary: The l'Cie party find 3 other "l'Cie" in the great plain. One looks and acts like Lightning. One fights like Snow. The last looks similar to Fang. Who are they? Where did they come from? Please R & R. Cloud/Light Vince/Fang
1. Strangers

**Authors Note:** I'm not going to describe the FF13 party because if you're reading this you should know what they look like. Sorry if you don't.

Rewritten, foul language in the chapter.

**Disclaimer:** I don't (But I wish I did) own any part of any Final Fantasy

The party of l'Cie knew they were catching up to the unknown beast slayers. They had been tracking the unknown's for three hours and the beasts they had been finding were getting more and more recently killed. Hope, Vanille and Sazh had fallen behind because they were gathering the 'useful stuff' off the creatures (bits and pieces (no pun intended) for upgrading the parties weapons).

Lightning, Snow and Fang were both nervous and curious. Curious because there are, nearly, no places to hide on this great Gran Pulse plain. And nervous because they had found three Behemoth Kings dead in a small area. One of the three Behemoths had many broken bones, another had been shot in the head (three bullet holes forming a triangle), and the last had been almost completely cut in half.

When the three heard gunshots they quickened their pace. They could see two Wyverns attacking something. A hill that was just big enough to be annoying was between Light, Snow, Fang and the unknown hunters. When they got to the hill massive lightning bolts and gigantic icicles slaughtered the Wyverns.

When Light, Snow and Fang crested the small hill they saw three people. A man with dark blue clothing that looked like a military outfit, and spiky lemon-blond hair standing between a really huge sword that was stabbed into the ground and a woman. The woman, which was quite obviously tending to the mans wounds by casting cure, was wearing a mini-skirt and a dirty white tank top and had knee length brown hair. The third person was interesting their back was to the l'Cie; all they knew was the person had messy black hair, like Fang, and was wearing a tattered red cape.

* * *

"There are three of them," Vincent commented to Cloud and Tifa "Judging by there pace we have a couple of minutes."

Tifa just glanced to confirm Vincent's report. She didn't know why she did, Vincent just always knew somehow. _At least he doesn't rub it in. _

Cloud just let out a small groan, his right shoulder had been hurt by those damned Wyverns and he really didn't want to fight again because of the pain that would be caused by swinging the Buster Sword around. _Two swings. I will win in two swings._ He bet himself.

* * *

The three l'Cie ran down the hill to the three people and instantly regretted that action because the three strangers instantly started combat.

The man grabbed the sword and did an overhead swing to use his strength, the weight of the sword and gravity to his advantage against Lightning.

Lightning had just enough time to bring her sword up, grab it with both hands and stop the large sword. The force of the impact forced Lightning to one knee and she felt her left arm crack in several places because the massive sword had been on a path to cleave her from left shoulder to right hip. Lightning saw the slightly surprised look on the mans face and rolled out of his reach the second the sword lifted. She went on the offensive and started using every move and technique she knew. The blond just took on a defensive role and used his abnormally large sword as a full-body shield. Lightning knew he was letting her run out of breath so it would be easier for him.

But then he took one swing when she wasn't expecting it and knocked her off her feet and several feet back. Lightning's sword flew out of her hand when she landed and ended up several feet away from her. As she stood up she was wondering how someone who was her size, had more than double Snow's strength.

_There must be some AMP tech in the weapon_ Lightning thought as she noticed that her gun-blade and the man were about equal distance away from her in opposite directions and she did not want to find out how fast the blond could run. But she would not be defeated so easily. She took off at a full sprint and the man started running after her but did not run as fast as she thought he could. Lightning had two conclusions for that, one: the sword slowed him down and two: he didn't feel like doing a short range sprint.

When Lightning got close to Blaze Edge she cartwheeled over it grabbing it and changing it into gun mode. As soon as she was on her feet she started shooting at the blond. The man had ducked behind the sword and the bullets just impacted the sword and did no noticeable damage. The man had not stopped charging towards her.

When Cloud reached the pink haired woman he swung the massive sword and got only air as she did several flips away. He felt the muscles in his shoulders violently protesting his actions, but he would not be defeated by this stranger. As he continued to swing at the woman he knew that she knew he was getting sluggish. Cloud blamed that on his sore right shoulder and his permanently messed left arm.

Lightning noticed the man was getting more sluggish with each slash. He was most likely still suffering from the injuries the woman was healing prior to this battle.

Lightning charged at the man once more. She was able to easily dodge the horizontal slash with a quick roll. When she was on her feet again she swung Blaze Edge at the mans neck but he was just fast enough to stop the blade, by grabbing the backside of the sword, before it pierced his neck.

* * *

Snow ran at the woman after the blond attacked Lightning. The woman spun and swung her right fist at Snow, when her fist hit his chest he felt one of his ribs crack and he heard three of her fingers crack. The woman quickly ran behind him in an attempt to pin him. Snow spun to counter her attempt and tried to slam his right fist into her left temple.

After several failed attempts to injure the martial artist Snow came to conclusion that she was relying on speed to overpower his strength. But she couldn't cause any real damage to Snow without letting him hit her back.

The woman ran behind Snow and placed a roundhouse kick to the back of his head. The force of the kick sent Snow to the ground and the woman took the opportunity to pin Snow. She grabbed his arm and wrenched it into an unnatural position, Snow knew that the woman could break his shoulder with one small movement. Because of that knowledge Snow calmly, but unhappily, surrendered.

* * *

Fang saw the strangers attack Light and Snow so she went to assault the one in red, who for some reason had not even looked towards the noise. As she swung her bladed staff the one in red simply side stepped to the left, spun to the right, and swung their left fist, which had gold colored armor, at Fang's throat. Fang easily dodged the attack and swung the staff at the one in red. The person blocked the swing with their left arm and jumped over Fang.

Fang watched the person jump over her and land with their back facing her. Fang delivered a downward swing and the person once again sidestepped to the left, spun to the right, but then had a tri-barreled gun against her forehead.

Fang set her focus on the gun. She watched in horror as they slowly pulled the trigger back and the hammers on the gun rise up, stop for a moment, then fall.

*Click*

Fang realized she didn't even close her eyes she had watched what could have been her very gruesome death. She then felt a single tear roll down her face as she thought about how devastated Vanille would be if she saw her on the ground with three bullet holes in her head. Fang then cursed how vivid her imagination could be.

"Good to know you value your life." She heard the person, which determined it is a man, say as he put the gun in its holster on his right thigh. When she finally focused on her could have been executioner her eyes widened a little. His eyes were bright red, which meant he could not be human, and for the first time she was the one to break eye contact. She quickly wiped the tear off her face.

Tifa took the cue from Vincent and let Snow out of her vice like grip. Lightning saw the other two strangers let her friends go, but she did not want to let the man go, she had the upper hand at the moment. Fang and Snow had been released though, so she lowered Blaze Edge.

"You're lucky I wrecked my shoulder just before you showed up." Cloud said to Lightning as she sheathed Blaze Edge.

_He was injured and he still proved to be a very difficult challenge? Who the fuck are these people?_ Lightning thought while comforting her left arm.

"Who are your new friends?" Vanille shouted while running down the hill towards the six.

"We don't know yet." Fang calmly replied without taking her eyes off the three strangers.

When Hope and Sazh caught up to the others they started catching their breath.

"That girl is just too energetic." Sazh panted "Who are they?" He asked Lightning. Light just forwarded the question to the three people and the woman answered first.

"Tifa Lockheart." She said in a cheery tone. She started to relax as she saw the rest of the people. "And that's Vincent. He doesn't talk much."

"SOLDIER first class, Cloud Strife." The blond said coldly sweeping his gaze over each of the, unknown to him, l'Cie.

The group of l'Cie found a few things disturbing about the three. Vincent had bright red eyes, Cloud had glowing blue eyes and had an eerie resemblance to Lightning.

"So is Cloud your real name or is an alias like Lightning here?" Snow said trying not to laugh at the similarities between Light and Cloud. "Snow Villiers, by the way."

"It's my real name. And what do you find funny?" Cloud replied

"How much similar you and Light are."

"So it's funny how soldiers act similar?" Lightning said coldly

Vanille saw an argument starting so she decided to cut it off.

"I'm Vanille" she said casually to the three.

"Hope Estheim."

"Sazh Katzroy."

"Fang"

"Lightning Farron" Light said finally "Why did you attack us?"

"We were a little high strung from a certain incident." Cloud said in an apologetic tone "Anyways, we should find a place to camp for the night."

"Over there." Vincent said, pointing with his left hand, revealing the gold coloured, clawed gauntlet, and he just started off.

"Why?" Vanille asked before she could stop herself.

"That area is secure."

**At Camp**

After the beds had been set up everyone gathered around the fire, except Vincent who stood in the shadows, in silence. Cloud was cleaning his sword and Tifa was massaging her hands. Snow decided to break the ice.

"Are you three, l'Cie?"

"Yes we are." Cloud had no idea what Snow was talking about but decided to play along.

"Where are your marks?"

"Mine is on the top of my head, Vincent hasn't said where his is, and-"

"And mine is right here." Tifa interrupted (deciding to join Cloud in playing along) and pointed to the spot right between her breasts.

"Do you have Eidolons?" Snow asked piquing everyone's interest.

"What're those?" Cloud questioned.

"Beings you can summon. I got the Shiva sisters, Light has Odin, Sazh has Brynhildr, Hope-Alexander, Fang-Bahamut, and Vanille just got Hecaton."

"Oh, yes we have Eidolons, but we call them summons."

"What are they called?" Snow pressed.

"Hades" Vincent answered first.

"Ifrit" Tifa answered next. She instantly knew what Cloud was going to say; Mainly because he used that summon every chance he got since he bred a gold chocobo.

"Knights of the Round" Cloud answered with a slight smirk

"Knights?" Hope asked putting emphasis on the 'S' "Are there two?"

"There are Thirteen of them." Cloud said his smirk growing into a smile as everyone got disbelieving looks on their faces.

"If you want I will unleash the fury of the Knights on some poor creature tomorrow."

"I don't believe you." Was all Lightning said.

Cloud set the Buster Sword on the ground beside him, took off the large leather belt, laid on his back and quickly fell asleep.

"I'll keep watch." Vincent stated to the party.


	2. Hades

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except the idea

_I ran down the stairs towards the bridge that extended to the raised platform, hoping that I was wrong about her location._

_When I got to the bridge my heart dropped. There she was, her back to me, on her knees praying to the planet. I had to tell her, I had to warn her, I had to get her out of here. _

_When I got to the platform I started to reach for her but my hand was pushed back to my side. I tried to speak but my mouth felt like it was sewn shut. All I could do was watch as my body refused to do what I commanded. My gaze was forced upward as I saw him. _

_I was forced to watch as he came down sword in his hands aimed down in front of him. I was forced to watch, unblinking, as he landed and his silver blade entered her back. It quickly sliced through her and exited right below the spot where her ribs met._

_When he pulled the blade free she slumped forward and the pink bow came undone. A small white orb bounced across the floor and into the water._

_I could finally move again so I raced forward and grabbed her. I held her close as her blood ran through my fingers. I felt warm tears running down my face as she looked into my eyes and . . . smiled. I cried as she told me "It's okay Cloud. I will always be with you."_

_I let more tears pass as the life faded from her eyes. I looked up at the silver haired killer and he just smiled._

_"__Stop pretending to be sad. Puppets don't have emotions," He said, as if he was contemplating the weather._

_"What the hell does that mean?" I almost screamed at him.  
_

_"You are my puppet and you will never be able to cut your strings unless I want you too."_

Cloud bolted upright on his bedroll a cold sweat covering his forehead as he tried, but failed, to hold back the tears. He looked at the sleeping form of Tifa and tried to redirect his thoughts.

He hated how it was always THAT memory waking him at dawn. When he finished taking control of his emotions he grabbed his large leather belt, which was designed to protect the midriff of the SOLDIER members, and put it on.

He grabbed his sword off the ground and put it on his back. He saw that the others, except Vincent, had fallen asleep around the fire, which was dead, and Vincent was still standing in the spot he was last night.

Cloud gave a slight nod to Vincent, which he returned, before heading off to 'catch' breakfast.

When Tifa woke up she stood up and saw Vincent prepping some fire wood. Knowing this routine all to well she went into Clouds pack and retrieved the spices she forced Cloud to keep.

* * *

Lightning was awakened by the sound of a crackling fire and the sweet smell of well cooked meat. When she sat up and opened her eyes she saw everyone else was just waking up as well, with the exception of the three strangers and Fang.

Fang was ripping into a juicy looking steak; Vincent couldn't help but stare at Fang as she ate. Snow yawning broke his attention and he started thinking about the events leading up to yesterday.

"Smells good." Snow said while yawning.

"How would you like it?" Tifa asked politely to everyone that was waking up.

"Rare." Lightning answered as she looked around at everyone. Vincent still standing in his spot, Cloud was sitting cross legged with his sword on his lap as he wiped a cloth over the surface. The other l'Cie were trying to force themselves to wake up enough to eat. Then a thought dawned on Lightning _Where the hell did Tifa get the grill?_ Lightning was glad to hear Vanille ask the question.

"Sorry for asking Tifa, but where do you keep the grill?"

"In Clouds pack." Tifa replied to Vanille as she used a knife, which had belonged to Yuffie, to get the meat off the steel grid and hand it to everyone.

"Wow! This food is amazing!" Snow almost shouted with his mouth full. Tifa just smiled at the compliment.

Lightning couldn't help but agree with Snow, something she did not do on a regular basis. Tifa's cooking was surprisingly better than Serah's, but Lightning would never tell that to anyone, to keep from hurting Serah's feelings.

* * *

Seeing that everyone was fed, Tifa used a stick to push the grill off the fire to cool.

When everyone was finished they packed up their bedrolls. Tifa cleaned the grill with a few water spells and stuffed it into Clouds pack. While Tifa was stuffing it into Clouds pack Lightning caught a glimpse of a small red orb, but decided it wasn't worth investigating.

**On the great Plain**

The l'Cie, except Lightning, had spent three hours talking about Ifrit, Hades and the Knights. What they might look like, what they might do and what their gestalt mode could be like. Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent just told them to be patient.

"Hey Cloud when are ya gonna show us the Knights?" Snow asked because he saw a Behemoth King wandering around in front of them.

"When there is a creature I deem worth it," Cloud replied coldly.

Almost on cue the Behemoth King started running at them and Cloud just classified the beast as 'practice.' Vincent felt he should show them Hades because he knew this beast wasn't worth Ifrit and definitely not worth the Knights in the slightest.

Without saying a word he walked to the front of the group and held out his left hand. A black candle flame appeared above his palm and he let it sit for a second. He wrapped his fist around the flame and then appeared to throw the flame but massive black flames erupted from the ground. When the flames cleared there was a large black cloaked figure with white skeletal hands. It then let out an ear splitting shriek to signal its need for combat.

After the Behemoth decided to transform Hope and Vanille were telling Vincent to use Hades' gestalt mode. Vincent followed their cheers and commanded Hades.

Hades grabbed his cloak and ripped it to shreds, which vanished, revealing a demonic looking skeletal giant complete with bone wings. The rib cage opened and Vincent went into the space. There was slight twitching as Vincent took control and a great scythe appeared in the hands of Hades. Vincent didn't want to waste time with any fancy moves; he went straight to his strongest attack. He took the scythe in his left hand, stood it up, and placed his right hand over the Behemoth and then some wind started. Everyone including Vincent stared in amazement as a white mist rose from the beast and went into Hades' hand. Hades/Vincent closed their hand around the white mist and then there was a noise like glass shattering as the beast just died.

Black flames engulfed Vincent/Hades and when the flames cleared it was only Vincent. Everyone stood frozen for a few seconds as Vincent started walking. The l'Cie wordlessly agreed that Vincent was not to be bothered unless it was important.

**Authors Note:** I didn't have to change that much with this chapter. If you see something I could improve let me know.


	3. Ifrit

"Ifrit!" Tifa shouted as the ground in front of her exploded and a large green humanoid being with claws on its hands and feet, large horns, a loincloth, and long flame red hair rose from the crater. He hovered over to the Wyverns that have been harassing the party of nine for the last two hours. Ifrit started throwing punches and kicks, his hands and feet were engulfed in flame, while Tifa also started to beat on the Wyverns.

Everyone else took a few steps away from the fight because Ifrit was, not surprisingly, casting off huge amounts of heat.

Tifa commanded Ifrit to enter gestalt mode and Ifrit started to morph. His face stretched and his teeth grew, which made him take on a wolf-like head. The claws on his hands and feet grew to about three and a half feet long. He grew fire-orange fur on his head, back, and from his waist to his knees. His horns bent down to mimic the curve of his back.

Tifa then jumped and landed, sitting down, on his left shoulder. He put his left hand on her legs so she wouldn't fall off, and Tifa put her right arm around his neck.

After a couple of minutes of toying with the Wyverns, Vincent surprised everyone.

"Tifa! Stop fooling around and kill them!" Vincent yelled.

Tifa complied by getting Ifrit to perform his strongest attack 'Hellfire.' Ifrit (with Tifa on his shoulder) knocked the Wyverns to the ground and created a pillar of fire around them. The pillar made them rise into the air and Ifrit turned the pillar into a ball, which hovered with the Wyverns burning inside it. Ifrit then, in essence, threw Tifa up towards the ball of fire and when she was above it, she moved her right fist back and Ifrit turned into a small fire ball which raced to Tifa's prepped arm. Her arm was engulfed in Ifrits flame as she swung her fist downwards at the large fire ball. When her fist connected with it, it shot downwards and when it impacted on the ground there was a small mushroom cloud.

When Tifa landed, so did the charred pieces of the ground and Wyverns. Everyone was starring at her, excluding Vincent. The l'Cie thoughts were along the lines of _How did they get such powerful Eidolons?_

"Okay, now we need to find a place to bathe." Tifa stated with a look that said 'I will kill anyone who disagrees'

"There is a spring on the other side of that plateau." Vincent stated as he started walking west towards (surprise) a plateau.

"How could he possibly know that?" Lightning asked with her annoyance level rising rather high.

"Honestly, I have no idea" Cloud said flatly "But he has never been wrong before."

"Hey, Cloud." Hope said trying to get Cloud's attention "When will we see the Knights?"

"When there is something more threatening than overgrown bugs."

After about twenty minutes of walking and fighting the occasional Gorganopsid, Cloud couldn't help but stare at Tifa. Her long bangs were plastered with sweat and what he could see of her body was glistening with a thin sheet of sweat. His mind took over and he started to think back to the 'Crisis,' specifically, back to Costa del Sol, when he-

A very loud gunshot brought Cloud back to what was happening. He turned and saw and dead Gorganopsid with half its head nothing more than red paint on the ground.

The ears of the l'Cie were ringing as they determined the source of the sound. Lightning was almost expecting to see an anti-vehicle rifle after the damage to the beast but her jaw almost dropped when she saw Vincent's gun. It had sounded like a large and powerful rifle but it was the tri-mechanism revolver he pulled on Fang yesterday. Three barrels and cylinders but it was still a revolver. Lightning was now determined to find out more about these people at camp that night.

Fang just stared at the damage done to the beast by the gun she got to see yesterday. Her mind instantly brought up the image of what could've happened but put in the new information.

Vanille saw the blood drain from Fang's face and instantly thought the worst.

"Fang are you okay?" Vanille asked, hoping she didn't sound too worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit thirsty."

Vincent instantly saw through the lie. He knew that she was thinking about what it would have looked like if Cerberus had bullets in it yesterday. He allowed a slight smirk to pass, but no one would see it because of the high collar on his cape. Vincent then flipped Cerberus open and started reloading the custom revolver.

A massive vibration and a loud thumping noise made everyone look around in confusion. Vanille was the first one to see the Adamantoise coming around the corner of the plateau. The l'Cie started moving away and were about to run when Cloud said something frightening.

"That is worthy of the knights."

The l'Cie looked at Cloud who had a shining red orb in his hand, which was outstretched in front of him. A large circle appeared in front of him; then in the center of the circle another appeared. Between the two, twelve more appeared. The l'Cie were dumbstruck as thirteen knights appeared in the circles. They all had capes but knight in the middle had a crown design on his helmet and the others had symbols on their capes.

Two of them had mountains, two had fists, two had wings, two had chocobo's, two had behemoths, one had a shield and the last had a cuirass. The knights mostly related to their symbol; for example the knights with the mountains on their capes had heavier armour, large shields and battle hammers, the two knights with chocobo's had lighter looking armour and daggers. However the two knights with wings on their capes had staffs. But all in all the knights looked like nine foot robots with plate mail.

Cloud turned to l'Cie and gave the 'I told you so' look. He quickly turned his attention back to the approaching Adamantoise. The twelve knights took up battle stances and formed a wall in front of the 'king.'

"Knights!" Cloud shouted "Show no mercy!"

The knights shot forward to engage the Adamantoise.


	4. Knights and Stories

**Disclaimer: **blah blah blah

The knights had started slashing, stabbing, and casting. The two knights with staffs were casting opposing spells, when one cast fire the other cast blizzard. The 'king' remained where he appeared, with his hands on the pommel of his sword, which had the tip on the ground between his feet.

Everyone was watching the knights 'fight' the Adamantoise. The knights could not cause any real damage to the massive creature, and were being pushed around by its constant use of earth magic.

Cloud was getting really annoyed that the legendary Knights of the Round were failing to kill the beast. They had destroyed everything else he had sent them against but they couldn't even injure that damn mutant turtle.

"Well they certainly LOOK powerful." Fang chuckled, causing Vincent to smirk again and Cloud to come within inches of losing control of his anger.

Some of the knights could no longer take the hits and retreated to the king. Cloud could not take this embarrassment any longer. He stepped forwards, stabbed the Buster Sword into the ground beside him and decided to find out what would happen.

"Knights!" Cloud shouted and the knights turned to face him "We fight as one!"

The knights capes disappeared and then they started to transform. The knights with mountains on their capes had transformed into a pair of lower legs, the knights with chocobos transformed into upper legs and the groin. The knight with the cuirass, the biggest of the knights, transformed into a torso. The knights with the behemoths became the upper arms, the two with fists became the lower arms and the king had become the head with a crown. The spell casting knights had turned into something that resembled a jet pack. The final knight, the one with the sword on his cape, had transformed into a large version of the Buster Sword.

Everyone was staring at the thirty foot plate mail wearing mech, which had a large Buster Sword replica. Hope turned to say something to Cloud but saw that Cloud eyes had gone blank, no color, not even the pupil.

The giant knight then took on the stance that Cloud used. It ran forward jumped up in front of the Adamantoise and did an overhead swing.

Vincent identified the move as the one Cloud named Braver and instantly knew the other move the thing would use. All the moves that Cloud named were the things attacks; Braver, Cross Slash, Blade Beam, Climhazard, and Finishing Touch. Vincent knew how Cloud was going to finish this creature and it would not be with Finishing Touch.

The knight stepped back from the creature and held the sword in front of it, the blade started to glow and then it launched into the air and charged forward. When it met the creature the knight started slashing. Slash after slash, faster and faster, until everyone could no longer keep count of how many slashes. The knight then flew above the Adamantoise, lifted the sword above its head, a large ball of energy grew on the sword and then he did a downward slash. Slicing right through the massive creature, a very bright light appeared and everyone had to look away to avoid being blinded.

When the light vanished everyone looked back and were astounded. The knight and the Adamantoise were gone and Cloud just spun his sword and put it on his back. Cloud looked down to reattach the red orb to his armlet and noticed the orb turned a dull red,cracked and reduced itself to dust. He could not believe what he just saw, the most powerful summon materia had just died from overuse. Cloud had to actually fight back tears. When he decided he could trust his face, he turned to the group, made eye contact with everyone then turned around again and started walking.

The sun had started to dip and the sky was starting to change.

When the group of nine got around the plateau they were in awe because of the natural beauty. There was a pond almost the size of a public pool, surrounded by fruit bearing trees and a short walk away was a cliff that overlooked a huge expanse of land and they could just make out the remains of what used to be a very tall tower. Cloud was at the back of the group and let the dust, that was the Knights, drift away in the slight breeze.

After marvelling at the view for a few seconds Tifa turned around, ran and dived into the deepest part of the pond.

The splash had broken everyone's attention and they wordlessly agreed they would camp here.

**After camp is set up**

Cloud had started his daily maintenance on the Buster Sword right after he finished eating. Vincent had given his cape to Tifa to cover up while her clothes dried (she had undone the buckles and used it like a towel) and he was sitting by the fire.

Lightning wanted to get more information on these strangers but didn't want to be nosy, that's what Vanille and Serah did. She was hoping someone else would ask the questions.

"So Cloud, How the hell do you move that sword so damn quick?" Snow asked while finishing what was left of the dinner Tifa made.

"It's made of a very strong and very light alloy." Cloud lied with a straight face.

"That's a load of shit." Lightning commented, remembering how much it hurt to block the damned iron surf board "That thing is made of iron, is there AMP tech in it?"

Lightning rolled her eyes at the questioning look she got from Cloud and thought _They have high calibre revolvers but don't know what AMP tech is. Where are these people from?_

"AMP tech can make things like your sword lighter." Lightning explained to Cloud.

"Oh, well then, no. But you were almost right when you said this is made of iron." Cloud commented back to Lightning "It is made of a strong alloy that makes it almost indestructible. That would most likely change if I let it rust."

"How heavy is it?" Hope asked.

"It probably weighs more than me." Cloud replied not attaching emotion to his words.

"Could I give it a try?" Snow asked while cleaning his hands.

"Sure."

Cloud and Snow stood met each other on the side of the fire where no one was sitting. Cloud held the handle of the sword towards Snow and Snow wrapped both hands around the handle that could have four hands on it at once.

"Brace yourself." Cloud said before letting go of the blade.

Snow was not expecting the sword to weigh so much so he almost dropped it. The tip of the Buster Sword bounced once as Snow let it fall. He still had the handle of the sword and he knew his back was not going to forgive him for this. Snow gathered all his strength and lifted the sword and put the blunt side on his right shoulder.

"Holy hell, that is heavy." Snow panted as Cloud stepped up to Snow to take the sword back.

"Not to me or the previous owners." Cloud stated as he took the sword with one hand and calmly tossed it near where he was going to sleep.

Lightning admitted to herself that she had some respect for Cloud. He was half Snow's size but had, most likely, double his strength. But the question of how that was possible came up.

"How do you have inhuman strength?" Lightning finally asked "And what do you mean previous owners?"

"My friend, his mentor, and I were part of a military faction called SOLDIER. All SOLDIER operatives were made to be stronger, faster, and smarter than normal troops. My friends mentor gave the Buster Sword to my friend before he died. When my friend was dying he passed it on to me." Cloud said his voice getting slightly shaky at the end.

"You said you were first class." Sazh thought aloud "How many classes were there?"

"Three. Third class was the lowest but no one in their right mind would give them trouble for it because all SOLDIER members were considered elites. Second class was for those who performed better in squads and first class was the best of the best. Each of the five first class members was one man armies, if you were to face one alone there would be no chance of surviving, unless you were also a first."

"There were only five first class members?" Vanille prodded.

"Myself, my friend, his mentor, a man named Genesis, and one named Sephiroth." Cloud's expression turned dark at the last name.

"What happened to Gen and Seph?" Fang asked genuinely interested now.

"Dead. Genesis rebelled against the 'government' and my friend had to 'stop' him. Sephiroth lost his mind during a mission to a malfunctioning reactor. He became a mass murderer and almost destroyed the world with a meteor about the size of Cocoon. Vincent, Tifa, myself and our other companions killed him."

"What did Sephiroth look like?" Vanille asked thinking the story sounded familiar.

"Silver hair, black cape, and a seven foot sword." Cloud stated, anger being prominent in his voice "At one point he had one large, black, feathered wing on his right side."

"The One Winged Angel." Hope said with his eyes wide.

"The Nightmare." Lighning stated instantly remembering the majority of her history lessons from school "You guys are from AVALANCHE?"

"I thought there was something familiar about you." Vanille stated

"You know the story?" Cloud questioned back.

"Of course we know the story, it's part of history class!" Hope shouted.

"What?" Tifa gasped.

"How long has it been?" Cloud thought aloud.

"About five hundred fifty years." Lightning said her mind reeling, she was sitting with legends. The people who provided a chance for everyone on Cocoon to even be alive.

Ten minutes went by without a sound from anyone. The information was sinking in. The l'Cie were actually taking those 'useless' history lessons seriously and the heroes were glad to know that Meteor was stopped. But some things bothered Cloud, _Did Meteor become Cocoon? What happened to Shinra? Where are my other friends?_

Snow finally broke the tension.

"So does this mean you three aren't l'Cie?" Snow said in a completely serious tone with a completely serious face.

He knew the question was stupid, he knew the answer was 'no' but was happy when everyone started laughing.

**Authors Note:** Take that Square Enix


	5. Growing Feelings

**I guess I should have said this earlier, This story will spoil the ending for those who haven't beat FF13. While your waiting for the next chapter go play FF13 if you haven't beat it.**

**The Next Morning**

Cloud woke up in a cold sweat again. Every morning since IT happened. He knew he was never going to get a full nights sleep.

Cloud decided to go exercise until everyone else was awake. As he got up Cloud saw Vincent sitting in the same place and same position as last night, right leg straight, left leg arched and his left arm on his arched leg.

"Stop opening the wound," Were the only words from Vincent.

"Morning, to you too," Cloud snapped back. Cloud did not mean to be so rude to Vincent but hated how HE was trying to tell Cloud to move on.

After finding a tree with strong looking branch, Cloud took of the large leather belt, that he regretted not taking off before going to sleep, and his shirt. He grabbed the Buster Sword and placed it on the super-compact materia-powered electromagnet that is usually hidden by his shirt. Cloud then jumped, grabbed the branch and hung for a few seconds, making sure the branch would hold the combined weight of him and the sword. After the branch passed the test Cloud had started doing chin-ups, and he planned on doing them until his arms refused to lift him, which was usually one hundred.

Lightning woke up with a slight headache caused by the lack of a comfortable pillow. She ignored the pain because she would not let something as trivial as wanting a proper bed get her down. She stood up and stretched the tiredness out of her system. She saw Vincent staring at nothing and decided he was deep in thought about past events, but for all Lightning knew he could have been forming a plan on how to kill them all without anyone hearing or noticing.

Lightning wished her imagination didn't have such a sick sense of humor because she didn't find the thought funny in any way. After seeing nobody else was awake Lightning started wandering, coincidentally, in the same direction Cloud had gone. She found Cloud just as he finishing his chin-ups.

Cloud's back was to Lightning. She saw that he was all muscle, like Snow, and watched him do a couple of chin-ups then drop to the ground. He adjusted the sword so it was parallel to his shoulders, then jumped, grabbed the branch, and swung his legs up between his arms and then hung from the branch by his knees. When he was upside down, he noticed Lightning standing no more than ten feet away from him. He crossed his arms over his chest and then started doing ab-crunches.

"Morning Light," Cloud said calmly while doing his workout.

"Amazing," Lightning said with a hint of wonder "That that branch can hold the weight."

Then on cue the branch cracked and broke. Cloud quickly recovered with a half back flip, to avoid having his head crushed by the Buster Sword.

"That wouldn't of happened if you didn't say anything," Cloud said with a smirk and joking tone. Cloud then adjusted the sword again, so it was parallel to his legs, and started doing push ups.

"Isn't it pointless for someone with inhuman strength to do those exercises?" Lightning wondered aloud.

"That's why I have a two hundred fifty pound sword on my back," Cloud said calmly again.

After doing one hundred push-ups Cloud stood and took the buster sword off his back that's when Lightning noticed the device and several scars. When Cloud removed the device she saw all the scars, there was a scar on his lower back, on the left side, that matched a scar on his front. Lightning assumed those scars were from the same thing, a stab wound. The other scars were four lines evenly spaced and running from the center of his back to his left shoulder, claw marks. Lightning instantly assumed that they were from an 'activity' with Tifa, which caused a very small amount of jealousy to rise.

Lightning stepped forward and traced one of the claw marks with her finger. Cloud's first thought was _What the fuck?_ and to turn around and attack. Then he remembered something Zack had said _"Chick's dig scars, trust me."_

"What are these from?" Lightning asked without emotion.

"A dragon slashed me as I pushed Tifa out of the way," Cloud answered, also, without emotion "It didn't heal right so now my left arm doesn't work as well as it use to."

_Well it was something concerning Tifa. _Lightning thought with microscopic level of jealousy vanishing.

Cloud then spun on his heel to face Lightning and simply stated "I need a sparring partner to check my speed and reflexes."

Lightning noticed how Cloud said that like he was going to spar with her regardless of what she said.

"Lesson number one of SOLDIER, control your strength," Cloud stated with a smile that was barely noticeable "You don't need to worry about me breaking your arm."

Lightning thought some sparring would be a good exercise. She unbuckled the sheath for her gun blade, removed her coat and threw them over by Cloud's stuff.

After Lightning removed her coat Cloud realized the sleeveless turtle neck she wore showed off her mid riff, and his mind made the side note that the SOLDIER belt would cover that area perfectly. Cloud couldn't help but let his gaze flick to Lightning's naval where a piercing was. It was a small pink rose; he had just discovered her favorite flower. Cloud was happy that his mind didn't need more than an instant to process those thoughts. Cloud just started removing his gloves and armbands, the standard issue SOLDIER bracer and the one that held his materia.

Lightning had seen Cloud's gaze flick downwards for only an instant. For some reason she felt the need to tell him why it was there.

"It was an impulse."

"Huh? Oh I was assuming that, but don't worry about what people think about it," Cloud then moved one of his blond spikes to reveal the earring, in the shape of a wolf head, in his left ear lobe.

They both then took up fighting stances and Cloud let Lightning to start the sparring session. After a few minutes of throwing punches, kicks, blocking and dodging, Cloud noticed Lightning was getting tired.

"I think that's enough for today," Cloud said as he let himself watch Lightning walk over to the Buster Sword to grab her stuff. Lightning's hair was falling freely down her back and Cloud just stared; yes it was odd to him that she had soft pink hair but he couldn't imagine her with any other color. Cloud wanted to tell Lightning that he was starting to care for her, but didn't for two reasons; they had only met a couple of days ago, so it could be his 'hormones' and when it came to loved ones, Cloud labeled himself as a death trap. Dropping those thoughts, Cloud put the SCMPEM and his armbands back on but felt too overheated to put his shirt on. He swung the Buster Sword and placed it on his back and grabbed his shirt.

Lightning knew Cloud was watching her which almost made her blush. She wanted to know why she felt odd around him, maybe it was because he is a legendary hero, maybe it was because they had identical personalities, or maybe she was starting to be attracted to him. Lightning would not let the latter happen; she knew that if she did, she would end up scaring him off. Even if Cloud did defeat the One Winged Angel, Lightning would somehow make him run for the hills, like the other guys she dated before. Shoving those thoughts aside she reattached her sheath and also was too hot to put her coat on. _Great, me and Cloud walking back to camp almost topless. If HE says anything I will rip six of his teeth out._ Lightning brought her hair over her left shoulder and started back to the camp.

Back at the camp everyone else had awakened and eaten breakfast from the trees, with Fang and Vanille telling them what was safe. Snow looked over and saw Lightning and Cloud walking towards the camp, Cloud wasn't wearing his shirt and Lightning wasn't wearing her coat. Lightning sent a glare that said 'Say something, I dare you.' Snow decided it was smarter to not take the dare.

"Where are we headed?" Cloud asked to no one in specific.

"Sulyya springs and then Mah'habara." Vanille answered.

"Well let's get moving." Cloud said in a commanding tone.

After the group was moving again Cloud moved towards Lightning.

"Hey Light, what is a l'Cie?"

_I hope we reach Oerba soon. _Lightning thought while she let out a sigh and started to explain the Fal'Cie, l'Cie, and Cie'th.

Vincent looked at Cloud and Light and saw how they were relaxed when they were having a conversation. He was glad that Cloud was starting to move on, even if Cloud didn't realize he was. Fang saw what Vincent saw and was happy for the soldier girl.

**Yay for Cloud/Light development. I might just skip the springs because I have no idea how they will help my story. I could just throw in some 'dirty' scenes but I'm not going to . . . not yet anyways.**

**Anyways, sorry this chapter was like a filler but I needed to buy some time to straighten out my thoughts.  
**

**I have to admit the line "It didn't heal right so now my left arm doesn't work as well as it use to." Sounds really dirty.**

**Please review. Even if it's 'I like your story' reviews always make my day better.**


	6. Mah'habara

**Wow. 200+ visitors in 4 days, I guess that means I'm doing a good job.**

**Sorry about Cloud being slightly OOC, but in the game he's serious and in the movie he's depressed. Being **_**cheerful**_** is OOC for Cloud and Vincent.**

Vincent was the only one who did not enjoy going through the Sulyya springs. He did not show or voice his dislike but he was worried that the moisture in the air there would have caused Cerberus to start rusting. If Cerberus were to rust, it would occasionally misfire, and he would lose count of how many bullets each mechanism had fired.

Cloud could sense the hatred Vincent had towards the springs while they were there. Cloud knew Vincent just wanted to keep Cerberus in flawless condition. Vincent took better care of his gun then most people took care of their health.

When the group of nine first arrived in Mah'habara Vincent demanded they make camp for the night. All he said was 'We camp here.'

Lightning just watched Vincent as he took off his cape, laid it flat on the ground, took a satchel off his belt, drew his gun and started taking it apart (the satchel had all the tools for expert gun-care).

Vincent surprised the l'Cie by completely taking his gun apart in less than a minute.

The l'Cie were surprised at all the small parts Cerberus had due too the fact of it being three guns in one. After thoroughly cleaning each part Vincent had the gun back together under a minute.

Fang had made it a personal mission to get Vincent to talk. She started with asking simple questions, which got one word answers, and then she started asking bigger questions. Questions about his personal life, what his family was like, what his hobbies were, what made him happy. Most of the time he just dodged the questions by talking to Cloud. The other times he just glared at her until she backed off. Fang did not want to play dirty but she did at camp in the tunnels.

**Mah'habara**

"So Vincent, what did you do before you joined Cloud?" Fang asked with an innocent tone.

"I was a Turk," Vincent stated, completely devoid of emotion. He knew what they were going to ask. "The Turk's were a black ops group. We performed assassinations, interrogations, blackmail, and, when it was required, kidnapping."

"A Shinra secret everyone knew about," Tifa added.

The l'Cie let the information sink in and were curious why a hero like Cloud had a, by the standards of all societies, criminal with him.

"I was never part of any of those operations," Vincent reassured the l'Cie "I was assigned to be a bodyguard for the scientists heading the Sephiroth project. They were professors Hojo, Gast, and doctor Lucrecia Crescent. Doctor Crescent was Sephiroth's birth mother."

"Did you love her?" Fang asked detecting the slight difference in Vincent's tone.

"Yes, that's all I'm going say about anything related to . . . that time," Vincent stated not wanting to reveal the fact that he had a chance to stop the 'Sephiroth Crisis' before it started.

"What's your last name?" Hope asked wanting to change the subject. Vincent just looked over at Hope for a second then went back to staring at the fire.

"Hope," Tifa said getting Hope's attention "Me and Cloud still don't know that."

"There is no reason for me to share that fact," Vincent said flatly, not even looking away from the fire. "No more question's, it's getting late." Vincent then lay down and feigned trying to sleep. He hasn't slept since Lucrecia bonded Chaos with him.

After an hour of trying to sleep Fang gave up and opened her eyes. She saw Vincent sitting up staring into the dying flames. Fang thought she was seeing things when some light flickered on his cheek. When she focused her vision she saw tears running down his face and felt like she opened a wound that he had worked hard to heal by asking about his past.

She heard some movement and figured it was Cloud from where the sound came from.

"Cloud you need to move on, stop thinking about Aerith," Vincent said while quickly wiping his face and confirming Fang's suspicion.

"Vincent how can you, of all people, tell anyone else to move on," Cloud said trying to keep his voice down.

"If you stay wrapped up in Aerith's death, you're going to end up pushing everyone away."

"No offense, but when it comes to having friends I think I'll ask someone who actually has a social life," Cloud snapped at Vincent, a high level of annoyance present in his voice.

"Cloud, Tifa is worried about you."

"I know. I just need more time to sort my thoughts," Cloud said in an apologetic tone.

"Look on the bright side," Vincent said with an implied cheery tone.

"Bright side?"

"Light has a crush on you."

"How could you possibly know that? Actually don't answer that."

"But she thinks you and Tifa are together."

"Everyone thinks that. Well talk to ya in the morning," Cloud said as he went back to sleep.

Vincent then turned and looked directly at Fang. When they made eye contact Vincent looked away after a second.

"Fang, stop trying to pry information out of me. Everyone has the secrets, mine just happens to be my past. However I will tell you one thing if you don't tell anyone else."

"Your secret's safe with me, Vinny," Fang said using the nickname she had been using since they met.

"I hate it when people call me Vinny," Was all Vincent said as he lay down and feigned sleep again.

**The Next Day, at about Noon**

The group of nine had encountered a tunnel that went in three different directions. The left tunnel looked like it went down, the right tunnel went up and the middle tunnel went straight forward.

"So who goes where?" Sazh mainly asked Lightning.

"Us three are going left," Cloud stated, and started walking towards the left tunnel with Tifa and Vincent flanking him.

"I'm going forward," Fang said to Lightning before starting down the tunnel.

"Come on Hope," Lightning said in friendly tone while following Fang.

"I guess we're going up," Sazh said with fake sadness, to Snow and Vanille.

**Bottom Path, a few minutes later**

Cloud, Vincent and Tifa had destroyed several groups of hoplites and had stopped to take a breath.

"So what do you think happened to Shinra?" Tifa asked Cloud.

"From what Lightning told me about their society, Shinra is the Sanctum, SOLDIER is PSICOM, and the Shinra militia is the Guardian Corps," Cloud thought aloud "There is a possibility that Cocoon is Meteor."

"I would say that Holy held Meteor in place and the life stream created the Fal'Cie too keep Meteor at a safe distance and make it habitable," Vincent added.

"But how are there so many people on Me-, er, Cocoon and no one on Pulse?" Tifa wondered.

"Maybe Shinra had a reason to move everyone there," Cloud answered.

"We should get moving," Vincent stated as he stood and started forward.

**Middle Path**

"So Farron, what do you think of the legends?" Fang asked in her devious tone.

"I think they're valuable allies," Lightning replied dodging Fang's real question.

"Where do you think the rest of AVALANCHE is?" Hope asked while slightly jogging to keep up with Light and Fang.

"From what Cloud told me, probably still crystallized," Lightning replied to Hope.

Fang was a bit annoyed that Lightning had dodged the question but they all knew Fang was stubborn and she wasn't about to let that change.

"Hey Hope can you let us have some personal space?" Fang asked in a sweet tone. Hope instantly slowed down and let Light and Fang gain some distance.

"So Farron, what do you think about THE legend?" Fang pressed.

"I respect him because he's a fellow soldier and a hero," Lightning replied trying to dodge the question a second time.

"Come on Farron, you start tripping over yourself when he compliments your skills. I bet he thinks you're very sexy but doesn't say so because he doesn't want you dreamin' bout him," Fang said teasingly which earned her a glare from Light.

"How about this Fang. Do you hate how Vincent is immune to your flirting? Or are you too scared to actually try seducing him?" Lightning retaliated.

Fang let out a slight growl at the last question/statement. She knew she was gifted when it came to flirting, back in Oerba she could've had any man. Or woman for that matter but Fang was completely straight; she just liked knowing she could seduce anyone. With the exception of Fal'Cie, Cie'th, Lightning, and Vincent.

**Bottom Path**

"Great, who's taking the detour?" Tifa asked the two men.

"I will," Vincent volunteered and started a quick jog down the side tunnel.

"Well let's keep going," Cloud told Tifa. They both knew Vincent could catch up VERY quickly.

Once Vincent was a fair distance down the side route he came across a large group of hoplites and two of the big robots that usually accompany the hoplites (I can't remember the name of them). Vincent didn't want to waste ammo and he needed to get that woman in the blue sari off his mind. He let rage fill his mind and felt the strange tingling that came with this 'enhancement' of his.

**Middle Path**

Light, Fang and Hope heard a loud crash and ran to see what was up. When they rounded a corner they saw a wolf like being literally tearing the old robots apart. The beast had long white hair, red jaw fur, large claws, black horns, short purple fur, and was wearing Vincent's gauntlet and cape around it's waist. The unknown creature grabbed a hoplite in each hand and threw them at one of the larger robots, knocking it over. The beast then ran and flipped over the downed large robot, grabbed it half way through the front flip and landed the flip, holding the robot above its head. The beast threw the large robot at the other one and completely destroyed both of them.

The beast looked at what it had accomplished then started sniffing the air. It spun around to face Light, Fang and Hope, took an offensive stance, let out a loud wolf snarl and charged at them.

**Please Review**

**I'm going to be making some changes to the previous chapters so it might take an extra day for the next chapter. I am going to extend the 'meeting' between the l'Cie and the heroes. I will list the changes at the beginning of next chapter, except for the extended 'meeting' scene. You're gonna have to go read that.**


	7. Rage

**Sorry this chapter took so long.**

**Changes to other chapters) All) Errors that Microsoft Word didn't notice 1) Extended fight scene 4) Knights of the Round died after Cloud used them 6) The beast had Vincent's cape around its waist**

_That was actually kind of fun. _Vincent thought while he looked over all the destroyed robots and as three distinct scents entered his nostrils. _Good, some flesh will be better than metal. _

As he spun around he saw three people that seemed familiar to him, but did not ring any bells. It did not matter who they were, the thing he wanted right now was blood, he wanted to kill. All he had at the moment was rage and bloodlust, all he was at the moment was the Galian Beast.

He let them know all he wanted was their blood before charging down the tunnel at them.

The beast ran at Light, Hope, and Fang, hands open at its sides and teeth barred. It looked ready to rip them to shreds and eat whatever was left. That thing was out for blood and they were the only organic prey in Mah'habara.

Fang had taken a defensive stance, Light had started shooting at the thing, and Hope had started casting every spell he knew. The beast was deflecting Lightning's bullets with Vincent's gauntlet and Hope's magic was having no effect on the charging humanoid wolf. When it reached them it started slashing, but Fang was there to stop the claws from ripping their flesh into ribbons.

Fang had underestimated the thing's speed and had been slightly clawed in several places on her lower arms. Lightning, not liking anyone around her being hurt, changed Blaze Edge into sword mode and ran towards the beast. When she slashed at the thing's back it had rolled out of the way to the right so fast, it seemed like it disappeared. Light was just fast enough to jump away from most of an attack aimed at her legs, her right calf had been scraped because her boot took most of the damage.

When Light landed she started using everything she knew against the beast. The only thing that seemed to slow it down was shooting at it. After a large amount of Ruin a red ball appeared in the beast's hands. Lightning hoped she would not find out what those balls were but hope wasn't strong enough in this situation. Lightning heard Fang yell something and saw the beast look away from her.

Fang felt her arms stinging so much, from the small cuts, that she could barely move them.

"Hope! Need some help!" Fang yelled at the boy who couldn't hurt their enemy.

Hope quickly cast several Cure's at Fang and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the beast quickly look over at him. It then threw two red balls towards him, Hope immediately ran away from his position.

As soon as he was ten feet away from where he was standing the red balls violently exploded perfectly replicating the effects of the l'Cie group's strongest fire spell. The explosion knocked the three l'Cie off their feet and caused their ears to start ringing.

Hope was in disbelief, it took a lot of effort to use that spell even once, but that creature had just hurled two of them at him simultaneously. Hope was heavily considering running and not looking back, but didn't because he saw how fast that thing moved and knew he would not last long on his own.

Fang and Lightning quickly regained their footing and were surprised at what they saw. The creature looked as dangerous as it had when it ran at them. It was not tired in the slightest, if anything it looked even more pissed off that they were alive. Before they started fighting the thing's eyes were almost black in color, now they were glowing deep yellow, as if to say 'you haven't seen anything yet.'

Lightning regained her offensive stance and Fang had taken an offensive stance as well. They had both concluded the creature was going to try to remove their medic before focusing on them.

It charged again but when it was half way to them it looked like the thing missed a step and stumbled slightly. Lightning, Fang, and Hope thought the creature was injured, but that was far from correct.

His rage had run its course and had been depleted. Vincent regained his senses and saw he was charging towards Light, Fang and Hope. They were injured, they had actually tried fighting him, and Vincent was surprised that they were still alive.

A sharp pain in his left side brought him back to reality. Lightning had just grazed him but it still stung. Vincent also felt the tingling start again, he would be transforming back to his normal very soon, and he would not let them see that.

The beast was getting sloppy, both Light and Fang noticed. Light had managed to cut the things left side but it was still defending against their attacks. Lightning jumped back and let off a few shots at the beast which were blocked by Vincent's gauntlet.

The beast grabbed Fang's staff, as she swung it at the beast, and quickly swung both the staff and Fang over its head and onto the ground behind it. Fang jumped to her feet and saw the beast running on all fours away from them, it rounded the corner where they first saw it and lost sight of it.

Vincent was sailing through the tunnels at a very high speed. He stopped when the tingling became a slight burning and felt every inch of his body transform from the Galian Beast into Vincent. It was a very uncomfortable feeling but not painful in the slightest.

After his teeth went back to human standards he drew Cerberus, checked it for any scratches, then holstered it and set off to catch up to Tifa and Cloud. Camp was going to be a fun place to be tonight.

**Twenty Minutes Later**

The three separate paths had rejoined in a large chamber with no roof. The color of the sky said it was about an hour after midday.

"I guess it's lucky those tunnels led to the same place," Fang said as she sat down "How was everyone's trip?"

"We ran into a lot of those damned robots." Tifa complained while massaging her knuckles.

"No one said you had to punch them." Cloud noted as he grabbed a small device, which he used to sharpen the Buster Sword, out of his pack.

"Guess what?" Snow said as he entered the chamber "Vanille was robbed."

"Fang! What happened to your arms!" Vanille shouted as she and Sazh entered the chamber.

"Whoa, no need to shout Vanille," Fang scolded "We were attacked by some wolf like thing."

"That was wearing Vincent's gauntlet and cape," Lightning added with an angry and suspicious tone "Wait, Vanille was robbed?

"Yeah all the components from the robots, just gone." Snow said really annoyed at the fact.

Cloud and Vincent looked at each other with the same thoughts but decided it couldn't be who they thought. She was only interested in materia.

"Anyways, what do you mean there was a creature with Vincent's stuff?" Sazh asked Lightning.

"It wasn't a random creature. It's called the Galian Beast," Vincent stated "And I'm sorry for attacking you."

"What do you mean you're sorry for attacking us?" Lightning said as she tried to keep herself from drawing Blaze Edge.

"I am the Galian Beast," Vincent said without breaking eye contact with Lightning "I transform into that beast when I let rage take over. I have minor shape shifting abilities."

"Like Barthandelus?" Snow questioned.

"Yes, except I was made this way by Hojo."

"How do we know we can be safe with that kind danger always being present?" Lightning asked coldly.

"I have full control over my emotions," Vincent explained emotionless "I am the safest person to be around. I only let rage take over when a situation looks bad."

"Anything else we should know?" Lightning asked in a rude tone.

"Me and Vincent think we know who took Vanille's stuff," Cloud answered "But we'll look tomorrow. We should get some rest while we can."

**The Next Day**

Vincent was leading the group of nine through the large tunnels. He was hoping he and Cloud were wrong about their hunch; Vincent really did not want that girl around. He had no idea why she was the only one who could actually annoy him to the level of letting it show on his face.

As they proceeded through the tunnels the group was constantly attacked hoplites and cryobombs. Thirty-seven mini-fights later the party of nine were approaching a crossroad of tunnels.

Vincent brought his left hand up in front of the group, signalling them to stop. He drew Cerberus and approached the tunnel on the right, hugging the wall. When he got to the corner he stopped, took two breaths, and quickly spun around the corner out of sight.

The moment after Vincent disappeared around the corner the eight remaining members heard an ear splitting scream.

**This was a hard chapter for me because right after Vincent transformed back, I was hit with severe writers block.**

**Any guesses at who screamed? It should be obvious. If it isn't get ready for the next chapter.**

**Reminder: This story will contain spoilers. So if you have not beaten FF13 go do that while waiting for the next chapter.**

**Random Fact: I am a FF7 fanboy, but I have NEVER actually beaten FF7 start to finish.**

**Weird isn't it?**


	8. Old Friends

**I am surprised no one pointed out that Sulyya springs come AFTER Mah'habara. But if it doesn't bother the readers it doesn't bother me.**

**Warning: large amount of foul language in this chapter.**

Cloud, Tifa and the l'Cie raced around the corner and saw Vincent holster Cerberus and side step to the left to reveal who screamed. A young girl was sitting on ground, eyes closed, right hand over her heart and breathing deeply.

The l'Cie were quickly taking in the appearance of the teenage looking girl. Jaw length black hair, a green sleeveless turtle neck that showed her midriff, an armguard on her left arm, a pair of hot pants with the top button undone, a steel band on her left leg just above the knee, long white socks and orange shoes.

The thing that caught Lightning's and Fang's eyes was the weapon beside the girl. The giant four pointed shuriken. Point to point, the weapon was about four feet across.

The girl opened her eyes quickly looked at everyone and then focused on Vincent. She grabbed the shuriken and leapt to her feet. The girl stood just over five feet tall. She stepped over to Vincent and tried to shove him.

"Why the hell did you do that Vinny!" The girl shouted rage burning in her eyes as she stared Vincent in the eye.

Vincent stood almost a full foot taller than the girl. He silently stared back into the girl's eyes without emotion. Vincent grabbed a pouch off the girls belt loop, turned, and walked over to Vanille. He passed the pouch to her and Vanille recognized it as the one that got stolen earlier.

"Why did you take this?" Vanille asked the girl.

"None of your business!" The girl shouted at Vanille.

"None of her business? You stole from her!" Hope yelled back.

"I don't have to tell you anything you little cock sucker!"

"Yuffie!" Tifa yelled at the girl.

Yuffie took a second to look over everyone again and saw Cloud and Tifa standing behind the people with strange clothes.

"Vinny," Yuffie whined "Why didn't you say chocobo and tits – err – Cloud and Tifa were here too?"

"I guess that means Cid is awake." Tifa said with a smirk to Cloud.

"Cid?" Hope asked thinking he already knew the rest of the name.

"Highwind," Cloud answered "The pilot for AVALANCHE."

"Yeah, we're all awake," Yuffie stated cheerfully as she grabbed the giant shuriken off the ground "Oh, by the way, I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, highly trained ninja and master thief."

"Yuffie . . ." Vincent said while slightly tilting his head towards Vanille and Hope.

"Oh, uh, sorry for stealing your stuff," Yuffie said, in a very annoyed tone, to Vanille before turning to face Hope "And sorry for what I said."

"What about the ship?" Cloud asked Yuffie.

"It's waiting near some . . . tower . . . thing," Yuffie said with a bored tone, while waving her left hand.

"Yuffie?" Tifa asked with a hint of suspicion "Why did you steal mechanical parts?"

"Cid wanted me find some," Yuffie said in an innocent tone "And I found someone who found some. And I was on my way back to Cid when Vinny jumped me."

Fang laughed to herself as she figured out why Vincent hated being called Vinny. She could see the hints of annoyance on his face. She was laughing more at the fact that this girl could actually get Vincent to show emotion. Fang held her breath for a moment and saw Lightning and Cloud giving her a look of confusion. She couldn't help but start laughing at how Soldier Girl and Hero looked like twins, with the exception of five hundred and fifty years between them.

"Fang?" Vanille asked her worried tone betraying her calm face.

"It's nothing," Fang chuckled as her laughing fell under control "Just a funny thought."

"Yuffie," Vincent said to divert attention "Take us to Cid."

"Umm . . . about that . . ." Yuffie said quietly as her gaze drifted to the ground.

"You're lost," Snow said with his right eye brow razed.

"All these damn tunnels look the same," Yuffie complained loudly "Not one damned landmark."

"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find him in no time flat." Snow said with a large smile on his face.

Vincent turned to face the group and started walking to the tunnel on his right. Everyone followed suit because Vincent always inexplicably knew exactly where he was going. The common thought was _Maybe he has a good sense of direction_. Yuffie started walking beside Vanille and felt that she had to sincerely apologize.

"Sorry about taking your stuff," Yuffie genuinely apologized.

"That's alright," Vanille replied "What was taken has been returned."

Yuffie couldn't help trying to place the accent. It wasn't from anywhere near Wutai, nothing like Cid, not from Cosmo Canyon, though her outfit suggested otherwise, maybe Nibleheim. But from what she heard from the occasional slip from Cloud or Tifa, it wasn't the same. Then it hit her, Mideel and Kalm. The towns were days apart but that was where that accent was most common. The accent had originated from Mideel

"Where are you headed?" Yuffie asked with minimal interest.

"Oerba," Vanille replied cheerfully "Mine and Fang's hometown."

"Which one is Fang? And who is the one that looks like Cloud?"

"Fang is the one in blue and the other is Lightning."

**Two Hours Later**

Tifa saw how similar Vanille and Yuffie were. Both were energetic and always cheerful, except Yuffie was usually trying a new plan to steal some of their materia. Vanille and Yuffie had become fast friends, at first they barely spoke to each other and now they were constantly giggling.

Cloud was still trying to figure out the connection between their worlds. But the only information he had was the life stream had passed over the Highwind and then a feeling similar to falling asleep then waking up in a crystallized airship with the other members of the group part of the crystal. Vincent was doing the same thing as Cloud and coming to the same conclusion, 'If this is our world where are all the people that lived here.'

A very loud grinding noise made them all kind of relieved that they were coming up on one of the larger chambers that Atamos passed through every now and then. After the grinding noise faded and the group got close to the last corner before the chamber they were greeted in an unusual way.

"Goddamn, mother fucking, bastard son of a whore!" A familiar voice shouted.

Yuffie took off around the corner shouting Cid's name. When the other nine got around the corner they saw a middle aged blond man with a blue jacket, brownish green pants, brown steel toe boots and goggles on his head. He was standing beside a spear and a disabled Juggernaut.

He looked towards them as Yuffie ran up to him shouting his name and a glare appeared on his face.

"Girl," He growled "You'd better have what I sent you to get."

"Sorry Cid," Yuffie said not sorry at all "But look at who I found."

When he saw Cloud, Tifa and Vincent his glare and frown was replaced by a grin.

"Hey, good to see ya V, Chocobo, Tits," Cid said in exaggerated happy tone "Where the fuck have you three been?" His expression went back to a glare

"We decided it was pointless to hang around a giant crystal," Tifa answered "And stop calling me that!"

"Cid, what're you doing?" Cloud asked confused about why Cid wasn't on his airship.

"I'm tryin to fix this fucking piece of shit," Cid growled pointing at the Juggernaut behind him with his thumb "Because the fucking tunnel we used to come in here collapsed and this thing looked like it could clear it."

"Why don't you use an eido- summon?" Hope suggested.

"Kid, I'm not usin a summon for two reasons, one, they only fight, two, Chocobo here took all the fucking materia."

"I didn't know when the rest of you would wake up and I didn't want it lying around," Cloud said flatly.

"Lying around! It was with us! Do you not trust us! We only helped defeat Sephiroth! Or was that not fucking enough!"

As an argument erupted between Cid and Cloud, Vanille made a movement towards them but Tifa grabbed her shoulder to stop her.

"Cid's actually a really nice guy," Tifa assured Vanille "He just has a short temper."

As the argument ended Vanille turned towards Fang and saw a large reddish orange wolf like creature with one closed eye, gold bands on his front legs, several black tribal looking marks, feathers in the 'mane,' the numeral XIII on its front left shoulder and a wrench in its mouth. The creature walked over to Cid and nudged him his right knee with its nose a couple of times.

"Huh? Oh thanks Red," Cid said as he took the wrench from the creature.

The creature then lay down, crossed its front paws, put its head on its paws and closed its one eye. Vanille walked over to it and squatted so the creature was within arms reach.

"Careful," Cid said in a no-joke tone "Red isn't too fond of meeting new people."

At that 'Red' opened his eye and razed his head to examine the person in front of him. As he looked at the girl he thought _She might be from Cosmo Canyon. But if she is, then she would know who I am._

Vanille then reached out and held her hand in front of the creature and stayed like that as Red's gaze switched from her face to her hand. Red closed his eye and shook his head slightly.

"I'm not going to sniff your hand like a dog," Red stated.

The l'Cie just about jumped out of their skin as they heard the 'wolf' speak. They just stared, wide eyed, at the 'wolf' that could speak their language perfectly. Even Lightning was staring, but with a confused look.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Red said as he got into a sitting position "My name is Nanaki, and I come from the land of Cosmo Canyon. Would it be inappropriate for me to ask your names?"

**To make the accents easier to imagine: Fang & Vanille - Australian, Cid - Southern U.S., Nibleheim - Russian **

**

* * *

Thanks to all those who review, you help me notice my biased view of the FF7 crew.**

**Here are some special Thanks.**

**To HopelessRomanticist – Thank you for your insight, I will take your advice and center the l'Cie more on magic and FF7 crew on strength.**

**To ForceWalker – Your reviews always make my day. Which is no easy task, if you knew me, you'd know why.**

**To Chaotic Symphony – Thanks for the advice about the side notes thing. But I have to say, I really liked Fenrir. I'm going to have to read the sequel now.**


	9. The Highwind

**More foul language in this chapter. Blame Cid**

After the introductions were made Cid had managed to get the Juggernaut running. Once the tunnel was almost cleared the group had made a small camp in the shadow of the Juggernaut.

"I remember the school books sayin there was eight in your group," Sazh commented seeing that they have met six of the AVALANCHE members.

"Well there's seven now," Cid mumbled as he lit a cigarette "Cait Sith don't work no more."

"Cait Sith?" Hope asked.

"How much information, about us, is in your textbooks?" Vincent asked the l'Cie.

"We just know there was eight in your group, the name Cid Highwind, you had an airship, and you guys defeated Sephiroth." Hope replied, having the most recent experience with school.

"Wait, back up a second," Cid said as he shook his head and waved his right hand "WE are in TEXTBOOKS? How fucking long has it been since then?"

"About five hundred fifty years," Tifa stated with a small amount of sadness. Cid just sighed and took a long drag of his smoke.

"Sorry to interrupt," Sazh said, kind of annoyed that there was a question no one else was asking "Who was Cait Sith and who is the seventh person."

"The seventh is the one who named our group, Barret Wallace," Cloud answered "And Cait Sith was a remote controlled robotic cat that a Shinra executive used to spy on us. In the end, he joined our cause by using his robot to help us."

"I guess if no fucking ridiculous event happens you guys can meet Barret tomorrow." Cid said with a large smile.

Silence fell on the group of twelve and for an hour the only noise was someone shifting into a more comfortable position.

There were several facts bothering Hope, facts that were not in any book, what made Sephiroth want to destroy the world? What happened in the Northern Cave?

Why did AVALANCHE wake up?

Hope decided it was better not to ask those questions. But he could not just simply swallow the whole 'Sephiroth was always evil' story.

"Was Sephiroth always . . . evil?" Hope finally asked.

"He was once a hero," Cloud said without looking at him "Admired by all."

"Every boy wanted to be like him," Tifa said also not looking at anyone "A lot girls wanted him."

"He was the reason I joined SOLDIER," Cloud said, drifting into memory "The Great General Sephiroth. The Silver Elite. The hero of the war with Wutai."

"So the worst of the worst was once the best of the best?" Sazh stated more than asked "What could cause someone to change like that?"

"Finding out you are nothing more than a man made weapon," Cloud said with an unintentional glare "He was the success of one of Shinra's many experiments."

"There is no point in talking about Sephiroth," Nanaki said without opening his eye "Sephiroth is dead, he is no longer an issue, we should focus on . . . whatever is going on right now."

**The Next Day**

The Juggernaut had been digging most of the morning and was getting very dirty, so it had to clean out its joints. The Juggernaut released enough steam to make the tunnel feel like a sauna. After making the temperature in the one minor tunnel rise by five degrees it charged forward and broke through the remaining rock. When the sunlight met everyone's eyes they knew it was a bad idea to stay in the dimly lit tunnels for so long.

"She's a sight for sore eyes," Cid said cheerfully as the Highwind came into view "But first, this thing."

Cid took a small box with a switch out of his pants pocket and motioned for everyone to get away from the machine.

"Fire in the hole!" Cid yelled as he flipped the switch. A large explosion blew the head of the Juggernaut to pieces. "Gotta love mining explosives," Cid commented as he turned to face the hovering Highwind and threw the detonator over his shoulder.

The l'Cie were amazed by the sheer size of the ship. To their standards, with the exception of Fang and Vanille, it was low tech and massive. The airship looked to be a hybrid of a jet, a blimp, and a helicopter. It had 'Highwind' painted in red cursive on the side with a picture of a woman with blond hair in a red bikini before the name. There was one thing about the ship that made the l'Cie nervous, the rope ladder hanging from the side of the ship.

"A rope ladder?" Snow asked, not trusting it at all.

"You're talking as if you don't want a ride," Cid said over his shoulder to Snow.

After everyone ascended the rope ladder, Vanille going last, onto the open air deck.

"Ladder's are not skirt friendly," Vanille told Cid.

"Three things smiles," Cid said as he turned to Vanille "One," He lifts his first finger "This was a military aircraft and standard military personnel had pants, two" He raises his second finger "Before today the only person with a skirt was Tits, and three," He raises his third finger "I simply don't give a shit about what you say about how we get on MY ship."

"Stop calling me that!" Tifa yelled as Cid walked towards the door to get inside "Well we may as well introduce you six to Barret."

As the group of twelve descended into the ship they heard three consecutive bangs.

"Barret, ya asshole!" Cid shouted as he ran across the catwalk leading to the bridge of the ship.

As the other eleven got to the bridge they saw Cid standing in front of a dark skinned man who was as big and muscular as Snow. He had an open brown leather vest, baggy green pants, brown boots, a fingerless glove on his left hand and a Gatling gun where his right hand should be.

"I've told you a thousand times!" Cid shouted at the man "No fucking shooting on MY ship!"

Cid gaze dropped to the floor as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He quickly looked back up at the man before him.

"Well here are some people we picked up," Cid said as he stepped to his right and swept his left hand through the air to indicate the l'Cie group "Meet Muscle, Pink, Kid, Afro, Smiles and Blue."

"Hey Spiky!" Barret yelled to Cloud "Pink looks like she could be your sister."

Tifa couldn't help but think of Lightning with blond hair and in a blue dress, with a red bow around the middle. She almost burst out laughing at the memory of Cloud in a dress. She had always wanted to tell that story but Cloud had forced her and Aerith to NEVER tell that story. She then remembered how she and Aerith had tortured Cloud by commenting on how cute Cloud looked and constantly asking his opinion on blue dresses. Only once he lost his cool and since then Cid has thought Cloud has an irrational fear of blue dresses.

"Okay new people," Cid partially shouted "Two rules. One, do not annoy me. Two, you do what I say, when I say it. Don't like it? You can always walk . . . Where are we going exactly?"

"Oerba!" Vanille said cheerfully. When she saw the blank stare Cid was giving she remembered that Oerba was after their time.

"Follow the broken tower," Fang told the clueless pilot.

Cid nodded and went over to the group of machinery that controlled the airship. He threw two switches and they all heard the hum of the propellers lifting them higher.

Cid looked out through the large windshield of the Highwind just in time to see the end of something's tail.

"What just flew by my ship?" Cid asked the room.

After everyone exchanged shrugs and confused looks the radar started beeping loudly. Barret was the closest so he looked at the screen and relayed the info.

"Cid we got somethin big up top!"

"I swear to someone's god, if that thing even thinks abou-"

Three loud explosions cut off the pilot and made everyone hit the deck. The Highwind dropped twenty feet as the pilot of the ship just glared out the large view port.

Tifa walked over to the status terminal and hoped there was good news for the perpetually angry pilot.

"Both rotors and the spot between were hit;" Tifa said hoping Cid wouldn't attempt to take out his anger on someone "The rotors are disabled and repairable, no permanent damage."

"That flying fucker just fucked with the wrong fucking people," Cid growled as he watched a large wingless snake-like . . . thing fly towards the ruined tower.

"Are the rotors important?" Vanille whispered to Tifa.

"They make the ship move up and down," Tifa whispered back.

"Cloud," Cid growled "Go kill that fucker, and take the girl with you."

"What're-"

"I'm takin Barret and Nanki to get parts to fix the rotors."

Cloud waved for everyone to get moving because he knew that if anyone were to even talk to Cid at the moment, they were going through the glass wall.

**Sorry about, pretty much, forgetting about Sazh last chapter**

**To those of you who prefer the spelling Aeris, sorry. I like how Aerith sounds.**

**I might skip Taejin's Tower. **

**Can anyone see how something like the Tower could help the story? Besides I got something big planned for Oerba.**

**See any mistakes? If you do, Review. If you don't, Awesome**

**Don't forget to review.**


	10. Memories

**SPOILER ALERT: Lightning's real name.**

Dahaka, Fal'Cie of the sky, the one that damaged the Highwind.

The l'Cie and the heroes of old had been battling the Fal'Cie for the greater part of an hour. The brute strength of the heroes had been proved futile against the flying Fal'Cie. They had resorted to materia but proved to be of little use, materia needs to charge after several uses. The l'Cie had a seemingly endless supply of mana, which made the heroes feel weak. Then again, when they fought the self-proclaimed deity, they had relied on their physical strength more than their materia.

Cloud, Tifa, Vincent, and Yuffie stood off to the side to avoid getting in the way of the l'Cie.

Cloud was mainly focusing on Lightning, the strawberry-blond moved with an unnatural speed, just over superhuman fast and far below impossibly fast. It wasn't just her speed though, it was her gracefulness, every slash and thrust carefully calculated to be placed in the right spot for maximum effect. Cloud only knew of one other who fought like that and HE could do it fast, impossibly fast.

Cloud felt a little ashamed at how he did not have what Light did, finesse. She fought with speed and skill. He fought with brute strength, weight and gravity.

As Lightning delivered the final blow to Dahaka the Fal'Cie let out a very loud shriek as it trembled in the air. They all heard something else along side the shriek.

"Thank you."

As Dahaka fell and disintegrated Cloud quickly looked around at everyone. He wanted to make sure he wasn't the only one hearing voices, it wouldn't be the first time for him.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Sazh asked openly.

"Hear what?" Snow replied.

"It said thank you." Hope answered both of them "Why would a Fal'Cie thank us for killing it?"

"It was in pain," Vanille said in a sad tone "But what could cause a Fal'Cie so much pain?"

"I don't know Vanille," Fang said not trying to hide the worry in her voice "But what caused Dahaka to turn so violent? He was peaceful from what I remember."

One thought instantly jumped forward in Cloud's mind, Sephiroth. Cloud quickly forced that thought back and forced the memory of Sephiroth's destruction at his hands to come forward.

"He's dead, I killed him," Cloud said under his breath several times.

"Fang," Lightning said, breaking the silence "Which way to Oerba?"

"If I'm correct we go down that path," Fang said pointing to the part of the tower that fell over.

"Oh no," Vanille said quietly but loud enough for everyone to look.

When they all looked at the land on the other side of the tower, all they saw was miles of white, with a spot of blue in it. The blue was the lake that Oerba rested beside.

Vincent turned away from the sight and summoned the elevator that would take the group down.

After the several minute, cramped elevator ride the door opened and that was when the image sank in. The fields were not white with snow; they were white with crystal dust. Everyone was silent as the group of ten walked over the hills of crystal dust and fought Cie'th after Cie'th.

When they reached the center of Oerba there was a group six vampire Cie'th. The group of ten quickly ended the Cie'th and stood in silence as they contemplated the area.

"Split into pairs," Vincent said, being the first one to speak in over three hours "Search the buildings for supplies, meet back here."

Fang and Vanille went to search the building they lived in before all of the events. Cloud and Vincent went to the largest looking building. Lightning and Sazh searched what turned out to be a small school. Tifa and Snow, Hope and Yuffie, searched the houses that stood on either side of the building that Fang and Vanille went into.

After an hour the sun was beginning to dip and everyone but Cloud and Vincent had returned. Vanille was talking to Sazh about being able to repair Bhakti.

"There they are," Snow stated just loud enough for everyone to look.

Cloud had a large book in his left hand, what it could be was anyone's guess. Vincent was walking beside Cloud and they were discussing something but no one could hear them. They stopped talking once they were within earshot of the group.

"Tifa," Cloud said as he tossed the large book to her.

"What's this?" Tifa asked completely confused.

"It's the photo album Barret made us send to Marlene," Cloud said "Before we went to the Forgotten City. She must've lived here until the war of transgression."

"We should find a place to camp before we look at the pictures," Snow suggested.

"Over there," Vanille said pointing to the building her and Fang 'searched.'

They went inside and turned on the lights and heat. There were six beds in the building, a full kitchen, but nothing worked, and a bathroom that only partially worked, no hot water. But that was easily fixed.

Everyone sat/stood on one side of the small table, except Vincent, so they could all see the photos. The first picture was of AVALANCHE a day or two after they 'recruited' Cid to their cause. The order of the group in the photo was Vincent, Cid, Yuffie, Barret, what the l'Cie assumed to be Cait Sith on a giant moogle, a woman in a pink dress, Cloud, Tifa, and Nanaki in front of the group. Everyone in the picture looked happy, even Vincent.

"Who's that?" Vanille asked pointing to the woman in pink.

"Aerith," Cloud said without facing Vanille "She was murdered by Sephiroth."

"She was fun to be around," Tifa said as she flipped the page to show a picture similar to the first one but this was less serious.

Yuffie was on Vincent's back, who had exaggerated annoyance on his face, Barret had Cid in a head lock, Cait Sith was on Nanaki's head, Aerith and Tifa had their heads on Cloud's shoulders, and Cloud had his arms around their waists and a large smile.

"Aerith must have really been something," Snow wondered aloud.

"She had a wild spirit, was always happy, and never let anyone feel sad. She even made Vincent happy," Tifa said with a smile as she thought back.

Tifa flipped the page and Snow's eye's just about shot out of their sockets. There was a picture of Tifa and Aerith lying on a beach in bikinis. Snow very quickly scolded himself for even allowing that kind of reaction.

As the evening went on there was constant laughter at the pictures and the occasional story from Tifa.

"Who was taking the pictures?" Hope asked.

"All of us, except Nanaki and Cait Sith for obvious reasons," Tifa said with a smile "Aerith bought the camera, well made Cloud buy it, when we got to Kalm."

Cloud walked away from the table and to the window. He let a smile appear on his face as he remembered the time they went to back to Kalm in the winter.

Yuffie had tied some mistletoe to a stick and would hold it above random couples in Kalm and say 'Mistletoe!'. Most of the time the people would shrug and follow the tradition. When the group was at the hotel she held it above Barret and Cid and they both just told her to 'Fuck off' when she held it above him and Vincent and they just glared at her. When Tifa and Aerith entered the hotel, talking about the jewellery they saw, Yuffie did the same to them. Aerith looked up at the Mistletoe, looked back at Tifa, and then kissed her. Cid had said 'No fucking way,' Barret did a double take, Cloud had just about passed out and Vincent slightly raised one eyebrow. Aerith broke the kiss and continued with the conversation while Tifa had a very surprised and confused look.

As Cloud let that sink back into memory he felt a sharp pain in his left temple. He raised his left hand to rub it and his right temple started pounding. He put both hands on his head as the pain quickly consumed his entire head. He felt his legs get weak so he leaned against the closest thing. His vision faded to black and he just barely heard the small table with a picture frame and a lamp, topple as he fell.

The commotion made everyone look away from the album. They saw Cloud lying on his back next to the overturned end table.

Cloud opened his eyes and saw nothing but white. He looked at his hands, arms, legs, and torso. The hairs on his neck stood up and he knew he was being watched.

"Don't worry," An unforgettable voice said "Your not dead yet."

Cloud turned around and saw the one thing he feared above all else.

Sephiroth.

"This is not real," Cloud told himself "You're dead. I killed you."

"Two of those are true," Sephiroth said with his cruel smile "This isn't real and you killed me. But do you really think I would simply die? You know me Cloud, I never give up and to die is to give up." Sephiroth then quietly chuckled.

"How is this possible?" Cloud asked himself.

"The life stream is quite easy to manipulate from the inside," Sephiroth stated while looking around the emptiness "I rebuilt my body and was going to finish what I started but then the planet stepped in. It created the Fal'Cie to keep me in a crystal stasis. But over time they got weak and I took control of them."

"Sephiroth," Cloud said hoping to gain some knowledge "Why are there people on Meteor?"

"Because of me," Sephiroth laughed "After my 'defeat' I tainted the life stream. Every person born on Gran Pulse after our showdown had a 'Sephiroth' gene. I got it to spread like a plague and then made all my chosen people take up arms against any I did not choose. Shinra then moved all those who were 'clean' to the very thing that should have ended all."

"Then Fang and Vanille."

"You could call them my chosen and the other l'Cie the toys of my puppets."

"What does that mean?"

"The Fal'Cie were once my captors, but now they are my puppets. With the exception of most of the Cocoon Fal'Cie."

"Most?"

"I have been using Barthandelus just like how I used you once."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because even if you tell them what I have said they won't believe you. I have made it so none of them have anything left to lose. I took Claire Farron's sister, who was Snow Villiers fiancé, everything Fang and Vanille knew, and Sazh Katzroy's son."

"And Hope?"

"Collateral damage."

"What are you planning?"

"I plan to finish what I started."

**Don't forget to Review**

**Random Thought: Is it just me or does the song Land of Confusion by Disturbed seem perfect for both FF7 and FF13?**


	11. Secrets

**Minor end game spoiler in this chapter**

It had been two days since Cloud passed out in the Oerba house and he still had not woken up. His fingers were constantly twitching and every now and then he would mumble something that was impossible to interpret.

Tifa had stayed at his side the whole time; she did not want to leave him. She did not have any romantic thoughts about the silent blond warrior, she saw him as a friend, a brother even. She saw him as a brother because they were the only former residents of Nibleheim that survived Sephiroth's outburst.

The other eight had gone out to hunt for food but left one behind with Cloud and Tifa. Lightning had volunteered to stay behind, she was also worried about the wielder of the giant sword and she wanted to know the story behind Cloud and Tifa. The only problem was Lightning did not like making small talk, but there was always a first time for everything.

"Hey Tifa," Lightning started with extreme discomfort "I know now isn't the right time, but what is the story between the two of you?"

"We're not in a relationship," Tifa replied with a cheerful tone "If that's what you're asking." She turned to face Lightning and saw her maintaining her gun blade with a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"That's not what I meant," Lightning said with a stern tone "I just wanted to know why he's so protective of you."

"It's because of Sephiroth," Tifa said trying to keep from letting her voice break "Sephiroth destroyed the village we grew up in, killed almost everyone there, and almost killed me. He slashed me really bad."

Lightning looked up and saw Tifa turn towards her and point out a faint line that began at her left shoulder. Lightning traced the line with her eyes and saw that it ended at Tifa's right hip.

"But to answer your first question," Tifa said with a smile "Me and Cloud are like family, both of us are only children. I see Cloud as my big brother and he sees me as his little sister."

Tifa was not talented at reading people like Vincent but she could see hints of relief on Lightning's face.

"If you want I could try to get Cloud to _talk_ to you," Tifa almost laughed when she saw the slight blush return to Lightning's face.

"W-why are you always so cheerful?" Lightning said to change the subject and hating herself for stuttering at first.

Tifa giggled at how uncomfortable Lightning got when it came to talking about Cloud.

"It's something I learned from Aerith," Tifa said with her voice dropping to monotone "Everyone in our group was happy with her around. But when she died everyone got really depressed, Cloud took it the hardest because Sephiroth had kept him from saving her."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well Sephir-"

Cloud shifted in the bed, which caused Tifa and Lightning to look, and mumbled one word that could be understood perfectly and made Tifa's eyes grow wide.

"Reunion."

* * *

"How do you plan on finishing what you started?" Cloud asked with his best glare on his face.

"By using someone else." Sephiroth said with a smile. "Claire told you about how they were made l'Cie, did she not? Well I used the Fal'Cie Anima to give them their focus, their task."

"Which is?"

"To kill Orphan, to bring Cocoon crashing down onto the surface of Gran Pulse. And in doing so the 'Maker' will be summoned, I will be summoned."

"You are taking credit for the creation of Gran Pulse and Cocoon?"

"I'll admit that I did not create them but I did make Gran Pulse the way it is and it's because of me that Cocoon was even available to you self-destructive humans."

"We won't let the world be destroyed."

"I never said anything would actually be destroyed."

"What?"

"Well I think I've kept you long enough. Just remember Cloud, the reunion is coming."

"Reunion."

* * *

"Reunion?" Lightning asked Tifa with a very confused look.

"It's something we heard a lot while we were 'chasing' Sephiroth," Tifa explained "Cloud must be having flash back dreams. I get them too."

As silence fell between Lightning and Tifa again they both simply watched Cloud for a few minutes but with completely different thoughts. Tifa was hoping with every fibre of her being that they were done with Sephiroth. Lightning was thinking about how Serah would be making fun of her for getting, for lack of a better word, girly around Cloud. Lightning simply did not understand why, she and Cloud had the exact same personality.

Someone pounding up the stairs shattered the silence. When Snow burst into the room Lightning just barely fought back the urge to shove him out of the room and lock the door. She would have followed through if he was the last one to come in.

"Spiky still sleepin?" Snow asked in his cheerful tone as the others filled the room.

"How can someone sleep with noise like?" Cloud grumbled as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up in one fluid motion.

"Cloud!" Vanille shouted as she ran over and hugged Cloud. When she released him she saw Cloud was giving her a look with a hint of confusion.

"So, Hero," Fang said as she crossed her arms "Want to explain why you passed out a couple of days ago?"

Two things went through Cloud's mind at that moment. The first being, _What the fuck? I was out for two days?_ The second being, _Oh shit, Sephiroth is back and even if I say anything the only person who will believe me is Vincent and it won't change anything. _Then something occurred to him. _That's why he made me pass out, so I would seem like a complete nut-job if I told them._

"It's a rare side affect of Mako infusion," Cloud lied to everyone.

"So you can pass out for two days at any given time?" Snow asked with a disbelieving tone.

"I'm sure he means he can pass out for any amount of time at any given moment." Hope suggested.

"Well," Sazh said with a shrug "He's gonna have trouble sleepin tonight."

After they ate their dinner and were bedding down Cloud went over to the door where Vincent quickly followed.

"We're taking first watch," Cloud over his shoulder, just like Lightning.

"Well then me and soldier girl will take second," Fang said. She looked over and saw Vanille already fast asleep. Fang chuckled lightly and lay down.

Everyone was very tired. Tifa and Lightning were simply tired from doing nothing and the others were tired from hunting. Everyone was asleep in mere seconds, with the exception of Hope. He and Yuffie were sharing a bed because they were the smallest, but right now he couldn't sleep. Yuffie was a quiet and still sleeper, she barely moved while she was asleep. Hope got off the bed and went to the open window thinking that was what was keeping him awake. As he placed his hands on the window to shut it he heard Cloud and Vincent talking.

"He has been controlling the Fal'Cie," Cloud said to Vincent "He has been manipulating these people just like he did to me."

"The difference is he is guiding these people," Vincent pointed out "He can't directly control them like he could, you."

_Who are they talking about? Barthandelus?_ Hope thought. He told himself to stop eavesdropping but now he was very curious.

"Vince, he has taken everything from them so they would see their focus through. So they would not change their minds."

"What about Hope? Why would he select the boy?"

"He said Hope was collateral damage, more or less, wrong place, wrong time."

_Collateral damage? Me being a l'Cie was an accident? Does that mean my moms death shouldn't have happened?_ Hope's mind was reeling. But there was still something really bothering him. Who were Cloud and Vincent talking about? Barthandelus? Or something worse?

"Not that it matters to him. Cloud, why do you think he wants them to kill Orphan?"

"He said the Fal'Cie were once his captors. But now the Pulse Fal'Cie and Barthandelus are his puppets."

"Which means the l'Cie are no more then disposable units. And Orphan is most likely the last line of defence against him."

"Vince, whether we like it or not, Sephiroth is coming back. And these people are helping him."

Hope could not believe what he just heard. The real life horror story that he learned about in school has been controlling them from the start. And he was only with them because . . . because . . . he didn't why but he wasn't supposed to be here.

"Cloud, if we don't help these people they will become Cie'th."

"And if we help them, Sephiroth comes back and EVERYONE will die. I would much rather release them all from their cursed life."

"How much has Sephiroth been controlling?"

"Everything. We need to stop them from destroying Orphan."

"Cloud, there is no way we can stop these people from completing their focus. They have lost everything, except their hope and lives."

Cloud and Vincent stood in silence for a few seconds then turned and went in different directions. Vincent went to the hill that led out of Oerba and Cloud went to the beach.

Hope still could not believe what he heard. The fate of the group of l'Cie has been manipulated from the very start and it was not Bathandelus pulling the strings.

As Hope lost himself in thought he did not realize how long he had been sitting at the table with the old photo album. _I'm not supposed to be here. I should be at home, sleeping in my bed, not having to worry about becoming a Cie'th._

"Hope?" Lightning asked with a tired voice.

"Why's the kid up?" Fang asked.

Hope suddenly realized that they woke up because it was time for the second watch. It was the middle of the night.

"I, uh, couldn't sleep," Hope said quickly.

Fang walked over to the window and looked around for a moment. She turned to Hope placed her arm on his shoulders.

"Do you know where they went?" Fang asked.

"Cloud went to the beach and Vincent followed the road," Hope answered.

"Hope," Lightning said noticing the deep in thought look on Hope's face "Get some sleep. Okay?"

Hope just nodded, stood up and walked over to the bed with Yuffie on the far side and lay down. Hope thought that sleep would be impossible this night but fell asleep as soon as he shut his eyes.

Fang and Lightning had gone quietly down the stairs and out the door. Outside they looked in the two directions and Fang made the decision.

"Go talk to Hero," Fang said with a smirk "I know you want to."

With that Fang started walking in the direction Vincent went leaving Lightning with only one choice. Lightning tilted her head back to look at the crescent moon and thought _I could use your help, Serah._

The only sounds Lightning heard were the waves lapping the ground and her footsteps on the brick pathway. She was going over all the information she had about Cloud and was amazed that he could still function. Cloud had been through more traumatizing events in less than six years than the l'Cie had their whole lives. Lightning knew that if she saw Bodhum get burnt to the ground and Serah get killed she would have a mental breakdown and would probably take her own life.

Lightning pushed those thoughts aside as the Buster Sword came into view. It was stabbed deeply in to the sand and Cloud was lying next to it. Cloud had his hands behind his head and his right leg was arched.

As Lightning got closer to Cloud she was carefully choosing words to start a conversation. When Lightning was no more than three feet away Cloud turned his head and they made eye contact. At that moment Lightning's mind went blank; she couldn't remember any of her carefully selected words.

"I came to tell you that first watch is done," Lightning said, hating how her soldier side always took over. Without anything else to say though she turned and was about to walk away when Cloud spoke.

"Hey, sit down for a moment," Cloud said with a noticeably forced cheerful tone.

Lightning nodded and unbuckled the sheath for her gun blade. She dropped it near the buster sword and sat on the ground next to Cloud. They sat in silence for a long while and Lightning was beginning to think it was completely pointless.

"Lay down," Cloud nearly whispered "look at the sky, the stars, Cocoon."

Lightning did what he said but kept thinking it was pointless.

"What was your sister like?" Cloud asked without looking away from the sky.

"Serah?" Lightning replied "She was always very nice to everyone. She was also very smart and stubborn."

"Any stories?"

As Lightning started recounting the memories of her youth while she stared at the night sky, she started to feel safe. She felt like there was no timer on her life, no evil Fal'Cie controlling her fate, and Serah was waiting for her at home.

As rude as it was, Cloud was only half-listening to Lightning. He wanted her to talk about her sister so she would stop thinking about what was presently happening. After a long while, it took Cloud several seconds to realize it had got quiet. He looked over and saw that Lightning was fast asleep. Cloud decided to let her sleep as a thought crossed his mind. _She is so beautiful in the moonlight._ Cloud turned his gaze back to the sky and let sleep drag him down.

As Fang walked up the gentle slope she saw something highly unexpected. Vincent had removed his cape, gauntlet and the steel boot covers. He was standing in the moonlight with his head bent down. If it wasn't for the moonlight and Vincent's nearly snow-white skin, Fang most likely would not have seen him. As Fang got closer to the gunslinger she saw that his eyes were closed and he appeared to be talking to himself. For a split second Fang thought she saw a woman with brown hair and a white coat standing next to Vincent. But only for a split second.

Vincent quickly noticed someone approaching him, as he usually did. He opened his eyes and looked to his left to see who was coming to break the silence. Fang stopped beside Vincent and examined the sight she had seen many times before she was made a l'Cie.

"What's on your mind?" Fang asked flatly.

"The past," Vincent replied still deep in thought "I have decided to take the advice I gave Cloud a while back."

"And that is?"

"To move on. To let go of the past and look to the future."

"What do you think the future holds?" Fang said as she and Vincent turned to face each other.

"Whatever I want it to,"

Fang was more than surprised at what happened the moment after Vincent finished speaking. Vincent had grabbed Fang by the waist, pulled her close and passionately kissed her. After the surprise had worn off, Fang had returned the kiss and wrapped her arms around him. After a few moments they separated and stared into each others eyes, Fang could see actual happiness in Vincent's bright red eyes. Fang barely noticed that Vincent had spoken.

"What did you say?"

"Valentine," Vincent said with a smile "My name, Vincent Valentine. You're the first person I've told. Keep it between us."

"Okay, as long as you keep tonight between us." Fang giggled, and quickly hated that she giggled like Vanille. Fang leaned forward and restarted the kiss.

**Sorry if this chapter is not up to par. I found it very difficult to write.**

**I realized that my usual time for posting chapters is about 1:00 am.**

**Don't forget to review.**


	12. Puppets

_Ragnarok. _

_Come day of wrath, O Pulse l'Cie. _

_Embrace thy fate, thine home to burn. _

_That fallen souls might bear our plea. _

_To hasten the Divine's return. _

_O Piteous Wanderer, Ragnarok. _

_Make of this day a brave epoch. _

_Deliver the Divine. _

_Ragnarok._

* * *

Vanille opened her eyes and was greeted by the blinding light of the sun shining through one of the windows. She sat up on the bed and swept her gaze over the room to see if anyone else was awake. Snow, Tifa, Yuffie and Hope, Sazh, and Sazh's chocobo chick were still asleep. Cloud, Lightning, Vincent, and Fang were not in the room; so they must be awake.

Vanille stood and stretched the sleepiness from her system. She quietly crossed the room, opened and shut the door, went down the stairs and got ready to wish the four a good morning. Vanille felt disappointed that the three downers and Fang were not right outside the building. _They must be getting breakfast _Vanille thought as she sat on the bottom step with a huff.

* * *

Hope woke up as Vanille closed the door. He stood up and went to the window, the cruel truth still at the front of his mind. His life had been destroyed because of a five hundred fifty year old Pulsian threat. No wonder everyone feared anything Pulse, it was hell on earth, no, it is hell and the devil himself was playing a very twisted game. Hope was a breath away from confronting Cloud to find out how long the blond soldier has known.

Hope started taking deep breathes to calm himself down and organize his thoughts. He decided he would confront Cloud but he would do it when everyone was around.

* * *

After Lightning realized she had fallen asleep she forced her eyes fully open and was blinded by the morning sun. She stood up as her eyes adjusted to the light and saw Cloud sitting down against the Buster Sword with a photograph in his hand.

"Morning," Cloud said as he folded the picture, put it in his pants pocket, stood up, grabbed the massive sword and placed it on his back "We should head back."

"Why did you let me fall asleep?" Lightning asked with a hint of anger and annoyance.

"You needed sleep and I had a lot on my mind," Cloud replied in his emotionless soldier tone, which he learned from Sephiroth.

Lightning shook her head and with a sigh she grabbed her sheath and replaced it on her back side.

* * *

Cold, metal, rectangle shaped, attached to some leather. Fang opened her eyes just enough to see what she had grabbed. It looked to be a buckle on a red blanket. _What kind of blanket has buckles?_ Fang thought as she opened her eyes fully to look around. Realization hit her when she saw Vincent standing guard over the area, without his cape. Fang moved to sit up but halted as she noticed two things, she was lying between Vincent's cape and her sari, and her shirt lying on the ground within arms reach.

Fang dressed quickly and picked up the red cape. She tried remembering last night but it was all a blur after she kissed the gunslinger. The thing she would not forget was his nimble fingers, most likely developed by the constant maintenance of Cerberus. She drifted back to reality as she handed Vincent's cape to him.

"Remember," Vincent said emotionless as always "Don't tell anyone what I told you."

"And you remember," Fang said, imitating Vincent's tone "Keep last night between us."

They stood and stared at each other for a long while. Fang saw that, like always, Vincent's face was clear of any emotion but his eyes had the glow of happiness in them. Vincent could see that Fang had the 'I win' look on her face; he had no idea why she had that kind of expression and at the moment did not care.

* * *

Vanille had started to day dream and could hear movement from up stairs. She literally jumped when the door banged open because of Snow. She saw Lightning, Cloud, Vincent, and Fang returning to the house but in pairs from different directions.

Lightning could see the questions forming on Snow's lips as he caught sight of them,as he was descending the stairs with the others behind him.

"We are going to check out what's left of those tracks," Lightning commanded so Snow couldn't get the chance to ask his questions.

"Hey, we only just woke up," Sazh yawned back.

"Yeah, what about breakfast?" Snow added.

"There are some leftovers in the pack," Tifa answered, not wanting to cook for a while.

"Cloud," Hope started. When he and Cloud made eye contact Hope was just about reveal the secret when Cloud's eyes turned bright green and had slit pupils. It was only for an instant and since Cloud was looking down at Hope, Hope was the only one to see the event.

"Hope?" Cloud asked wondering why Hope went quiet.

"Oh, uh . . . Never mind," Hope said in a dismissive tone. He did not know who or what those eyes belonged to but he did not want to find out.

**One Hour Later**

The group of ten were nearing the end of the ruined train bridge and it was beginning to look like this part of the trip was completely useless. A bright light made everyone snap to attention. As the light faded there was a young girl, about Vanille's age. She had pink hair in a pony tail on the left side of her head, a white sleeveless blouse, red plaid short skirt, black thigh high stockings, and tan-with-white shoes.

"What?" Lightning said with a high level of confusion.

"Serah!" Snow shouted, also confused "How did you-"

"I was waiting," Serah said in her naturally sweet voice "For you to open your eyes."

Serah walked forward and wrapped her arms around Snow. Everyone but Cloud had their eyes on Snow and Serah.

Cloud was looking about twelve feet behind Serah; there stood the silver haired nightmare. He knew only he could see Sephiroth; because if the others could see him, Sephiroth was free and most of them would most likely be dead. Cloud felt anger, hatred, and sadness come surging forward as he saw the cruel smile appear on Sephiroth's face.

"All the time I was asleep," Serah continued "I knew what was happening. I kept trying to think up a way to save Cocoon – together."

Snow pushed Serah back slightly so he could look her in the eyes. When their eyes met Snow was greeted by bright green eyes with slit pupils. He quickly shoved 'Serah' back fairly hard.

"It's for that reason I'm glad Shinra, or rather, the Sanctum did not think it important to teach what my eyes looked like," Sephiroth spoke to Cloud with a laugh at the end.

Knowing it was impossible for Sephiroth to be a physical threat Cloud turned his attention to 'Serah.'

"You get it now," 'Serah' spoke "There are no gods with miracles to save us no matter where you look. That's why we have to call one. Destroy Orphan. We'll save the world!"

"Stop it!" Lightning yelled getting ready to draw Blaze Edge.

"You can't do that. You love me too much," 'Serah' said in a mocking tone "You do. Don't you, Claire?"

"Enough already!" Snow shouted as he stepped between 'Serah' and Lightning "Listen up. We are all shooting for the same goal here."

The bright light reappeared completely consuming 'Serah.' When the light vanished, as fast as it appeared, Barthandelus in his human form was wher 'Serah' was standing a moment ago.

"And the result of that is this." Barthandelus stated.

"You son of a-" Snow growled as went to strike the rogue fal'Cie. Barthandelus teleported away and Snow fell to the ground and used the momentum to roll to his feet. Snow charged at Barthandelus again and was sent flying back as a shield repelled the attack.

"You betray your fal'Cie to chase after dreams and shadows," Barthandelus said with no attached emotion "The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation."

"I didn't think fal'Cie had the means," Lightning said with high levels of anger.

"Oh, it won't be fal'Cie who destroy her. For centuries now, Cocoon has provided generously for its human inhabitants' every want and need. Coddled them, one might even say. The result being their deep-seated fear and hatred of change and all things alien. Fed, nurtured, and ready to detonate at the slightest spark. The seeds of destruction take root, even now."

"What did you do to Cocoon?" Lightning asked as she drew her gun-blade.

"I resigned, appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead."

"Raines," Snow said with some hope present in his voice "He's alive?"

Barthandelus laughed at that thought "The puppet is restrung to serve my needs, yes. Its eyes had long since turned to glass."

Fang, Tifa, and Vincent saw Cloud flinch as if he was hit in the chest.

"Of course, the Cavalry's eyes will see our friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause." Barthandelus continued with a smile "They'll say the fal'Cie got to him too, or some such drivel. And imagine – when I spread word that it's Orphan tugging at his strings – what happens next?"

"You're gonna use the Cavalry to take the thing out?" Sazh said with a tone of outrage.

Barthandelus let a large grin grow on his face "Perhaps. Or perhaps I'll feign the howling of Pulsian wolves and let the fear-addled sheep slaughter themselves first. Either way, the end is at hand. (Laugh) But what of yourselves? Will you enjoy the festivities beside me? Or perhaps . . ." Barthandelus then lifted into the air and was engulfed by the bright light. His owl then flew into the light and the light dissipated, leaving only Barthandelus in his fal'Cie form "Greet the end here, in the land where it all began,"

"Where this act of my story began." Sephiroth said to Cloud before fading away.

Everyone acted immediately. Hope and Sazh started giving everyone shields for physical and magical attacks, Vincent started firing non-stop, Yuffie threw her shuriken, Tifa, Snow and Vanille started casting spells of all elements and Lightning, Cloud, and Fang charged forward to put their weapons to use. When everyone was shielded Sazh joined Vincent in shooting at Barthandelus and Hope had started throwing every spell at the fal'Cie.

Barthandelus' face separated and dozens of tubes were staring at the sword and staff wielders. Fang took a defensive stance, Lightning prepped Cure and Cloud ducked behind the Buster Sword. Laser like beams erupted from the tubes showering everyone in minor burns, except Cloud. Barthandelus' face reformed and he started throw his own spells at the group.

**Minutes Later**

After several beatings from spells and beams the team was getting exhausted. Lightning summoned Odin and redoubled her efforts. Cloud checked the bangle on his left arm and noticed the lack of red materia.

"Tifa!" Cloud shouted over his shoulder "Be Ze!" Cloud then held out his hand.

Tifa quickly dug the red orb out of Cloud's pack, which he dropped at her feet when Barthandelus turned into a fal'Cie, and threw the orb to Cloud.

Cloud caught and held the red orb with his left hand, close to his chest. He then threw his hand above his head and shouted.

"Bahamut Zero!"

**That is the exact dialogue from that cut-scene. All I did was add the parts with Seph (obviously)**

**I am planning on taking this story past the end of FF13 **

**So random thought for a future pairing: Tifa/Lebreau. **

**If you don't like the pair, don't hate me for thinking about using it. It's just a thought, might not happen.**

**Concerning Cloud and Vince for last chapter, if you did not like them being OOC than you try writing that part with them in character. I really don't care that they were out of character because it's the first major OOC for my story and they both are such depressing people.  
**


	13. Eden

The l'Cie looked around in confusion as there was nothing appearing. Cloud had clearly summoned something but nothing was happening. Lightning went back to helping Odin fight Barthandelus.

Cloud felt the increase of magic in the air, thanks to mako infusion, that signalled the incoming attack.

"Lightning!" Cloud shouted with a listen-or-die tone "Get away from him NOW!"

Lightning retreated away from the fal'Cie, knowing better than to second guess Cloud because of his 'ability' to sense extreme danger. Lightning dismissed Odin and ran back to where Cloud was.

Everyone stood and watched as Barthandelus prepped his multi-beam attack and a whistling noise started. The whistling got louder and louder until there was a bright blue flash and a blue beam shot from the sky and impacted on Barthandelus. A large blue explosion engulfed the fal'Cie and did surprisingly little damage to the ancient bridge.

The cloud of dust that rose, because of the explosion, was ripped apart by beams of magic created by Barthandelus. The beams caught everyone by surprise and blanketed the area making everyone take the full force of the attack.

Covered in small, minor burns, Lightning and Snow charged forward. Lightning jumped high into the air with the intention of planting her sword deeply in the fal'Cie's forehead. Snow ran straight at the large enemy, summoned all his strength and, with help of his AMP tech enhanced gloves, uppercut Barthandelus helping Lightning drive her sword in.

Lightning pulled her sword free and retreated to a safe distance with Snow. A bright light engulfed Barthandelus as he transformed back into Dysley.

"The time has come," Barthandelus said as everyone got into new battle stances, just in case "Allow me to extend my invitation," Barthandelus lifted his staff "To save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok," He brought the staff down which made a loud clack and a bright flash and the owl flew out of the light.

The small bird flew over head and transformed into the large ship that the l'Cie used prior to arriving on Pulse.

"Cocoon suffers," Barthandelus continued "Release her from the pain," Barthandelus turned away from the group and faded out of sight.

The appearance of a Cie'th stone caught everyone's attention. Vanille walked up to it and had an idea of what it could be.

"Maybe it's a record," Vanille thought aloud "Of what happened since Fang and I turned to crystal."

Vanille reached out and touched the stone to activate it. Something similar to a computer screen appeared and words started to appear. As everyone read the words, it turned out to be a poem-like summary of the War of Transgression. The words stopped appearing after a short while and the 'screen' disappeared.

"Guess the Jig is up," Sazh said as he turned away, walked a few steps and sat down cross-legged.

"Cocoon's done for," Hope said, devoid of hope "Isn't it?"

"Hey don't sweat it," Sazh said turning to face Hope "If we go ahead and smash Cocoon, you know some Maker's sure to roll up and save the day."

A thought hit Tifa in the moment of silence.

"Holy," Tifa said with a cheerful tone and a growing smile.

"What?" Snow asked sharing the in the confusion of the other l'Cie.

"The White Materia," Yuffie said catching on.

"What so special about it?" Lightning asked her annoyance growing.

"Holy kept Meteor, Cocoon, from destroying Gran Pulse," Vincent said also seeing what Tifa was pointing out.

"Right," Tifa said with the large smile still on her face "Except this time it doesn't have Sephiroth holding it back."

Cloud eyes widened with realization of what Sephiroth meant. Holy will stop Cocoon from smashing into Pulse just like before. That was why he said _I never said anything would actually be destroyed. _

"So nothing bad will happen if we kill Orphan?" Snow asked hoping that they could complete their focus with minimal worry now.

"Exactly!" Tifa replied.

"What about the people in Eden?" Lightning asked seeing the one main flaw in the plan "Eden isn't attached to Cocoon. If we kill Orphan, Eden will fall and kill all those living there."

"Don't worry about the people," Vincent said to Lightning "The Cavalry will have made all the civilians go to Cocoon by the time we reach Orphan."

"How do you know that?" Hope asked the caped gunslinger.

"You could call it a gut instinct."

"Well come on," Sazh said while walking towards the ship "We're not done yet and Orphan can't kill itself."

Everyone started heading towards the ship and started talking excitedly. About how Cocoon will be saved after Orphan is killed, how fal'Cie won't be taking slaves after this, and how Serah and Dajh will be awake.

Cloud didn't join in the conversation because he was at a loss of what to do. If he helped the l'Cie he helped Sephiroth. If he doesn't help the l'Cie he doesn't help Sephiroth. Cloud could hear Sephiroth laughing at his dilemma.

When they were on the ship and seated, it lifted off and slammed into full speed, all by itself. As they raced over the landscape of Pulse Yuffie saw the ruins of the former metropolis, Midgar. Located exactly where she thought they would be, directly beneath Cocoon.

As the ship rocketed towards Cocoon a large creature-like image appeared and the ship vanished as it passed through the image.

**Eden, Seat of the Sanctum**

It was night on Cocoon and a very large racing event had just started to get the minds of the citizens off the current crisis. As the racers rounded the first bend, they and the cameras couldn't help but notice the sudden appearance of a creature-like image. A large ship flew out of the image and ten people were free falling towards the track.

The ten occupants of the ship were completely taken by surprise when they were ejected from the ship. The l'Cie summoned their Eidolons and the others used their summon materia. Vincent summoned Hades, Tifa summoned the Phoenix, Cloud summoned Bahamut Zero, and Yuffie joined Tifa on the Phoenix's back.

Cloud knew he was gambling by summoning Bahamut Zero, because of how disobedient the six winged dragon was. Cloud was surprised when the dragon caught him in its giant hand. He was always surprised by the sheer size of the beast. Cloud was half the height of the steel-gray dragons forearm and it had a wingspan of over fifty feet. When Cloud caught a glimpse of the l'Cie's faces he almost smiled. Almost.

Fang heard Cloud summon the beast that did not appear when they were fighting Barthandelus. She saw a very large gray object zip by her and Bahamut and thought it was a PSICOM gunship. When she noticed it was a VERY large dragon she wondered why no one had seen it the first time Cloud summoned it. She shook that thought away as a squadron of PSICOM troops had started shooting at Vanille.

The situation had quickly devolved into complete chaos. There was nothing but gun shots and explosions for several hours. Bahamut Zero was completely ignoring Cloud's commands and was just enjoying the senseless violence.

When the night turned to day most of the PSICOM forces that were dispatched to that location had been obliterated. The group had gathered and their summons were following them. Bahamut Zero was only following Cloud because he had nothing else to tear apart.

"Well," Sazh said while looking at all the damage "Next stop, Orphan."

Everyone dismissed their summons. The summons all vanished except for the giant dragon. B. Zero just crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at Cloud.

"I don't think he likes you," Fang commented which made most of the group chuckle.

Cloud and the dragon stared at each other until B. Zero shook his head, shrugged, jumped into the air, flew into the sky and vanished.

"I didn't know it was possible to have a disobedient summon," Snow thought aloud as the group of ten started in the direction of the entrance to Orphan's Cradle.

When the Pulsian beasts from the Fifth Ark started to appear Eden erupted into an endless sea of violence.

Everything between their point of arrival and their encounter with Yaag Rosch was a blur. A blur of slashing, stabbing, shooting, punching, throwing, casting, and healing was the only memory the whole group had of Eden.

As they approached the door to Orphan's Cradle Cloud felt pain rip through his head and saw the ground rising very quickly.

* * *

"So Cloud," The unforgettable voice said "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Are you going to help me, by helping them? Or will you stop me, by stopping them?"

"I don't know."

"You had better choose soon, because the time of my rebirth is quickly approaching."

"I . . . I . . ."

**Again, sorry if this chapter wasn't up to par. I was having very bad writers block. Next chapter should be better.**

**Another thought for future pairing: maybe Tifa/Vanille. **

**Again, don't hate me for that idea. **

**I have no control over my imagination. Seriously. No control. Which is sometimes a good thing.**

**Anyways, please review. I said please.  
**


	14. The Beginning of the End?

**I'm not going to describe Orphan (part 1) because that would just be very difficult. If you have beat the game you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't beat the game, why are you reading this chapter?**

Cloud clutched his head and fell to his knees just before they entered Orphan's Cradle. Tifa and Lightning ran to either side of the sword wielder both worried for different reasons. As the women knelt beside the blond man they heard him mutter 'I don't know' every few seconds.

* * *

"Why are you even helping these people?" Sephiroth asked with genuine interest.

"I don't know."

"Did you know that Claire is falling for you?"

"How could you possibly know that? And why does that matter?"

"She told Fang. I heard through Fang." Sephiroth shrugged lightly "And it shouldn't be too long before she is added to the list."

"What list?"

"The list of people that cared for you, that are now dead."

"No . . . No . . ."

"Your father, your mother, Zack, Aerith and now Claire." Sephiroth listed as he lifted a finger on his left hand for each of the names "It seems like you should have just pushed her away as you did your other friends. Well, they have a Focus to complete, tell them good luck for me."

* * *

The pain vanished as quickly as it appeared and Cloud got back to his feet. He turned to the women flanking him to assure them that he was fine. When he turned to Lightning he saw that she had several emotions in her eyes. Worry for him, anger and hatred for Barthandelus, and happiness that Cocoon will be saved.

Lightning saw inexplicable sadness in Cloud's glowing blue eyes. Their gaze lingered on each other for a few moments too long. She saw tears begin to form in the eyes of the warrior and he turned away quickly when he noticed.

Without a word Cloud walked forward and pushed open the doors to Orphan's Cradle. Orphan's Cradle first appeared as a large circular room with gothic architecture. It was filled the crystal Cie'th, members of the Cavalry that had their souls ripped away from them.

After the crystal Cie'th were killed an unusual one appeared. It had one arm, on its right side, and a very long sword in that hand. It was an Undying Cie'th, it was known as Wladislaus. It was outrageously fast and skilled with the sword.

Lightning had started a duel with the creature and before long emerged victorious. She turned to the group and they all saw the rage burning in her eyes.

"Nothing will stop me from seeing Serah again," Lightning told them as the walls disintegrated.

They all looked around at the area they were in. It was mostly red, with several objects flying by every few moments. At the opposite end of the 'room' there was a ramp that seemed to be made of very thick red glass. At the top of the ramp was large circle with fancy symbols, which looked like spear heads, evenly spaced and sticking out in eight directions. Inside the circle was an image of a white hallway with countless small blue lights, neatly dotting the walls.

To the left of the group was the same thing but an image of the area the l'Cie first made camp on Gran Pulse. To the right, same thing, but an image of Eden.

"No reason to turn back," Lightning said as she walked straight at the one with the white hallway. Everyone simply nodded and followed.

**The Narthex**

When the nauseating effects of teleporting wore off everyone cautiously walked slowly down the hall. The hallway was wide enough for five people to walk side by side and seemed to stretch on forever, which was making the entire group more and more nervous about what could happen.

A bright flash made everyone unable to see for a moment. When their vision returned they were met with a large door that led into a massive chamber. There was an outcropping beyond the door that everyone walked to the edge of. They saw a very elegant, levitating, throne with a back that rose to about thirty feet.

"Ready?" Lightning asked quietly, almost whispering. Everyone gave a small nod in reply.

"This is it," Snow said to no one in particular as the room started to shake.

"Moment of truth, Hero," Lightning said to Snow and with that everyone jumped down. There were tiny specks of crystal floating around the room.

"Little lights," Vanille stated "Just like in Oerba."

While everyone was looking around at the specks of crystal the room shook as two spots on the floor began to shine. Two large crystal figures shot from the glowing spots into the air. Everyone looked at what the noise was.

"Life's spark shines on," Barthandelus said without appearing "Once freed from its fleshy shroud."

"Dajh!" Sazh shouted.

"Serah!" Lightning and Snow shouted as well.

A bird flew into the room as the spot on the throne began to shine. The light faded and Barthandelus was sitting in the throne.

"Dreams, meanwhile, shatter in a flash," Barthandelus said as he tapped the floor with his staff. The crystal figures of Dajh and Serah then shattered.

"Dajh!" Sazh yelled with both anger and pain.

"No!" Snow yelled, also, with anger and pain.

Snow let out a growl as he charged at Barthandelus but was thrown back by a shield. Lightning ran over to him and helped him sit up.

"Think," Lightning said quietly to the large man "Where's the real Serah?"

Snow pulled Serah's tear from his pocket and stared at it for a second.

"Hey, listen," Sazh said holding the chocobo chick in front of Snow "It isn't real. It's just fal'Cie smoke and mirrors." Sazh then put the chick in his hair and drew his pistols.

"Yeah," Hope agreed "They don't work wonders. They play tricks."

Lightning and Snow got to their feet as everyone took up an aggressive stance and Barthandelus started laughing.

"At last, my errant l'Cie. Men fight men, men battle beasts. Cocoon wars with Pulse," Barthandelus then rose from his throne "There can be no end to such conflict. But Cocoon's end is imminent and inevitable. Will you not at least slay Orphan, and make it quick? As an act of mercy?"

"Mercy?" Lightning growled as she stepped forward "You mean 'murder.' And Cocoon won't die. We're not here for that. We came for you."

Barthandelus let out a sigh before speaking "Such wilful insolence. Disappointing," Barthandelus then rose into the air "You prolong Cocoon's suffering. And to what end? Refusing me but condemns another to face your focus tomorrow. If you truly seek salvation, you will obey."

Yet another bright light appeared as the bird flew into it and Barthandelus in his true form appeared when the light dissipated.

Cloud brought his left hand up and one of the green orbs on his bangle glowed as several large lightning bolts jumped from his hand and impacted on the fal'Cie's face. Cloud rushed forward ready to strike as soon as the bolts left his hand.

Sazh and Hope started buffing everyone, Vanille, Snow and Tifa started throwing spells while the others charged forward.

After a short while of fighting Vincent saw that spells were a more effective than his high caliber rounds.

"Cloud!" Vincent shouted to the blond "Bolt!"

Cloud threw the Buster Sword straight up in the air, quickly detached the Bolt materia from his bangle, threw the electric materia to the gunslinger, caught his sword and continued fighting the fal'Cie. All without even looking away from his enemy.

Lightning had retreated to where Hope was and was curing the small wounds she had received when she heard Vincent yell Cloud's name. She watched Cloud very briefly show off his heightened speed and strength and admitted to herself that she was impressed. Impressed at how fast the blond could move and how well he worked with the gunslinger.

Vincent attached a fire, ice, and Cloud's Bolt materia to Cerberus to maximize the effect. With the materia replacing the bullet cylinders, the tri-mechanism revolver was launching three different spells at once with each pull of the trigger.

Tifa had always wondered how Vincent's gun could manipulate materia in that way. It was understandable how materia affected melee weapons, but making guns launch elements? She was definitely going to ask the caped man about that one.

Fang knew everyone was finding this battle with the rogue fal'Cie a lot easier than the last time they fought. Maybe it was because they had grown stronger. Maybe it was because they knew Cocoon will be saved when Orphan is destroyed.

Hope was the one to finish Barthandelus this time. After many volleys of thundaga, Barthandelus started sink into a pool of, something that looked like, water.

"Hey, put a lid on it!" Sazh yelled as the fal'Cie let out cries of agony.

"Release . . ." The fal'Cie said as he became completely submerged "At last, release!"

After a few moments everyone let their battle stances drop and put their weapons down.

"It's done," Lightning commented.

"All right!" Snow yelled with a large smile and throwing his fist in the air.

"Fang." Vanille said in a cheerful voice as they tapped their forearms together.

As everyone started to relax and celebrate, Cloud and Vincent remained staring at the pool.

"This is far from over," The voice in Cloud's mind said "Look up."

Cloud looked up and saw the bird. Vincent followed Cloud's gaze and also saw the bird. Soon everyone was looking towards the roof.

"It's that bird again," Hope commented as it flew into the pool.

The pool started to glow and the room began to shake. From the pool a very strange being began to rise.

"A haven, yea," Two voices said in unison, one female, one male "Yet it must fall ere we be saved. Too frail a shell, and humans should not thrive." The being slammed its left fist against the floor, when it said thrive, which caused everyone loose the footing. Vanille fell on her butt "Too stout a shell, and they would not die. Slaughter and salvation. Two irreconcilable Focuses we bore. Yet bound were we in a cocoon prison impervious to our power. And so we thank you, for granting us our longed-for birth."

"Dysley?" Snow thought aloud.

"No, not anymore," Sazh answered.

"We are the Abandoned One, born but now to die. Our name is Orphan," The being spread its hands and five wings on its right side stretched out "By our hand, the world shall know redemption."

**Yes I know it is a dick move to stop it here.**

**Stay tuned for battles, emotions, Chaos, and more Sephiroth.**

**Review, it makes me update faster.**


	15. Smoke and Mirrors

**Once again, I'm not going to describe Orphan (part 2) or Ragnarok (Fang).**

**I think it is a good thing I made this a separate chapter.**

The battle with Orphan had only been going on for an hour but it had felt like days for the l'Cie and the heroes. Orphan was attacking relentlessly and the attacks had a high price for getting hit by them. The l'Cie that had been fighting up close were exhausted and those that were casting spells were getting there.

All of the hero's materia had run out of mana and needed to recharge and three of them had hit their limit. Tifa knew her attacks were useless against Orphan, Yuffie was tired overall, Cloud's arms and legs were burning from using the Buster Sword for such an extended time, and Vincent was still going but Cerberus had quit a while ago.

Vincent was standing between Orphan and the other nine. He was fuming at the fact that he had just one bullet left for Cerberus and the materia needed to recharge. He knew that everyone needed a break from the fight, so he took the one course of action that would keep Orphan from attacking the weakened party.

He started to focus on everything that made him furious. Vincent let anger fill his mind, let it subdue reason and conquer every bit of logical thought. The anger quickly evolved into rage and he felt the tingling sensation which always happened. He quickly undid the buckles of his cape and let it drop to the floor.

The l'Cie watched as Vincent's cape fell to floor and Vincent started changing. His hair turned white and grew longer. His torso grew bigger as his shirt divided and gathered on his arms, revealing the short purple fur. His arms grew longer and more muscular; claws grew on his right hand to match the artificial ones on his left. His shirt morphed into upper arm spikes suited for shoulder ramming. His boots had turned into purple fur and the steel points became claws for his toes.

The Galian Beast ran at Orphan all claws, teeth and fire. Potions were handed around by the designated 'healers' of the group and everyone was back on their feet. Even though they were ready to rejoin the fight, they did not want to, because of the beast Vincent had turned into. Calmly waiting for Vincent to end his rage was the only intelligent path of action.

Vincent wanted to sink the claws on his right hand into the eye of Orphan's left side and that was what he intended to do. He launched himself off the floor and saw the left hand of Orphan rising to stop him. The hand came down and swatted him away.

The Galian Beast shot downwards and bounced off the floor. Halfway through the arch the pain from the bounce registered and he transformed back into Vincent. He landed, face down, next to his cape and was back on his feet in an instant.

Orphan started lifting into the air as everyone simply watched. They were all waiting for Orphan's next attempt to end their lives. Vincent, however, took this time to quickly put his cape back on.

When Orphan was fully out of the pool the giant stone pillar/blade on the bottom started to flicker. A wave of dark energy raced outwards and had covered the entire chamber in an instant.

Pain, unbelievable pain was racing through everyone's bodies at the same time. Fang stabbed her double bladed lance into the ground and used as support. Vincent and Snow fell to their knees while the others had been taken to the ground.

"Have you ever paused to consider our reason for making l'Cie of men?" Orphan asked as it gently descended back into the pool "We fal'Cie are crafted for a single purpose, and given finite power to that end. With men it is not so," No one had even moved since Orphan started talking "Men dream, aspire, and through indomitable force of will achieve the impossible. Your power is beyond measure. We take l'Cie that we might wield such strength. Through you, we obtained freedom from our bondage. And now, your Focus alone remains."

Cloud was going over everything that Orphan had said. He was the only one that felt, inspired. The words that Orphan spoke about men made him choose what path he would follow.

"Bring it on, Sephiroth," Cloud said under his breath as he continued to lie on the floor recuperating from the painful attack.

"Do you realize how foolish you are being?" The voice in Cloud's mind replied.

"Defy it," Orphan continued and its left index finger started to glow "And all will be for naught. Cocoon's sacrifice, and that of Gran Pulse as well."

A red and black aura surrounded Vanille and she started to cry out in pain.

"Yet, if we but summon the Maker, we will be given the chance to begin again. All our sins absolved, and the world born – anew!"

Vanille was then lifted into the air by the red and black aura and was still letting out pained cries.

"Submit l'Cie! Become Ragnarok! Lead us into the light!" Orphan shouted.

"Let her go!" Fang yelled at the fal'Cie

"We have no need of flawed l'Cie," Orphan replied in a mocking tone.

"Orphan! I'll do it. I'll destroy you," Fang said almost crying. The faces of Orphan smiled and Vanille was released.

Everyone knew that Cocoon will be saved when Orphan dies but the challenge was destroying Orphan. Everyone was exhausted from the fight and recovering from the attack that felt like it fried every nerve ending in their bodies.

"Ragnarok. The will to guide the world unto oblivion. Can you bear the sin of our salvation?" Orphan spoke to Fang.

"You heard me," Fang replied with rage burning in her emerald eyes "I said I'll do it!"

"You can't," Vincent stated as he got to his feet "Not by yourself, anyways."

Everyone else began to stir and get to their feet. A bright light shone from the tail-like thing on Orphan's right side and another wave raced out and everyone felt an odd tingling.

When the light faded Fang and Vanille were the only ones in the room other than four Cie'th and four Sacrifices. The Cie'th were exactly where Lightning, Hope, Sazh and Snow were a moment ago. The Sacrifices were in the places of Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, and Vincent.

"Everything I do- Why? Is this what you meant to happen?" Fang asked the air as she looked around and saw everyone's weapons next to the creatures in their place "All of 'em . . ."

Orphan started laughing at Fang's misery.

"After all we went through!" Vanille dropped to her knees and didn't try to stop the tears.

The Cie'th and Sacrifices shuffled towards Fang and started to beat the life out of her.

"Are they my sin to bear after choosing salvation?" Fang coughed out. The Cie'th and Sacrifices started to collapse on top of her.

"Please . . . stop" Vanille begged the fal'Cie "Stop it!" Orphan continued to laugh at the misery of the l'Cie "Give them back!"

Fang's l'Cie brand began to shine brightly and the large creatures piled on top of her were thrown about the room. The brand shone brighter as Fang got to her feet and then she transformed in a glowing beast.

"Salvation is born of sacrifice – miracles of misery. From shattered shards, a new crystal legend will arise." Orphan said calmly as the beast lunged at it and was sent across the room by its shield.

"Yes!" Orphan said as the creature turned slightly blue and ran at it again "Let anger be your strength!" The beast jumped and grabbed onto the shield and started to pound on the shield "Despair. Despair and save us all!" The beast made a hole, grabbed the edges and pulled, causing the shield to rupture and then vanish "Lo! The Day of Wrath is come!"

Next thing Fang knew she was lying on her back on the floor.

"Yet again," Orphan muttered "How many times must you fail?" The right side of Orphan then sent a healing spell to Fang.

Both hands of the fal'Cie began to glow with a black and red aura, and a matching aura appeared around Fang's wrists. Fang was lifted into the air, high enough to be face to face with Orphan.

"Let me go," Fang pleaded.

"Retake the form of Ragnarok," Orphan demanded "Deliver us that which we have been too long denied!" Orphan's left hand began to glow with the red and black aura again. Orphan thrust his left hand towards Fang.

The aura surrounded Fang and pain shot through her body. It felt as if she was being ripped apart. She couldn't help crying out until the aura dissipated. The right side of Orphan then sent a spell to Fang and Fang felt all the leftover pain vanish.

"What do you want?" Fang asked the fal'Cie.

Orphan repeated the torture-then-heal process two more times before speaking.

"Steep yourself in hatred;" Orphan kept the torture aura in place until he finished saying that "Let it infuse your soul with the strength it craves."

Vanille walked towards Orphan until she was in line with Fang. The left side of Orphan twisted to look at her.

"Your awakening demands an offering of pain!" Orphan shouted while preparing another torture aura.

"Vanille . . . run," Fang nearly whispered.

"No," Vanille replied to woman who has always looked out for her "I swore I wouldn't run away anymore! I'd rather fight and lose than give up without even trying!"

Three large fireballs came soaring towards Orphan from behind Vanille. The fireballs created huge explosions when they connected with Orphan. Without the aid of its shield Orphan got the full effect of the attack and cried out in pain and surprise.

"Fang!" Vanille shouted as the sari wearing huntress was sent across the room. Vanille watched in horror as her best friend sailed through the air, started to come down, and land in Snow's arms. Vanille was rendered speechless as everyone re-entered the room.

"Miracles out of misery," Sazh said in a mocking tone as he picked up his pistols "You've got to be kidding me."

"Yeah, Fang," Hope commented as he healed Fang with a Cure spell "Who'd be dumb enough to swallow that crock?"

"Sure, we've all had better weeks," Lightning added pointing gun-mode Blaze Edge at Orphan and holding Fang's lance.

"You're alive," Vanille said with a very high amount of disbelief in her voice while the others went about collecting their weapons.

"But you can't be," Fang stated with the same amount of disbelief as Vanille.

"Could be more fal'Cie smoke and mirrors," Lightning said.

Cloud smiled slightly at the thought. The voice in his head said 'Wait until they meet me.'

"Fang I'm sorry," Snow apologized.

"We made you go it alone," Lightning said with an apologetic tone while handing Fang's staff to the huntress.

"Second time now isn't it?" Fang said while shaking her head.

"But where were you?" Vanille asked when Lightning turned away from Fang.

"Somewhere cold and dark," Hope began to answer "just thinking about everything that happened up until now. And then . . . and then it was like-"

"It was like-" Snow said cutting off Hope "I had a glimpse of the future. Everyone was smiling and laughing," Snow said in a dreamy tone "Even Serah. Even Light. Even Cloud and Vincent. (Said men threw looks over their shoulders) I don't know. It was like a new Focus or something."

Yuffie almost laughed at the idea of Vincent being anything other than an emotional wall.

"You know," Sazh started commenting "I'm thinking, didn't really make sense of course. I mean, knowing we were worm bait and all, but . . . As luck would have it, next thing I knew I feel somebody pushing me right along."

Cloud knew this situation was not all it seemed when the voice in his head said 'Tell them, you're welcome, for me.'

"You were there too, Fang," Lightning said to Fang "Same side. All of us. Together to the end."

'Which is sooner than they think.' The voice in Cloud's head stated.

The pained cries from Orphan snapped everyone out of the cheerful reunion. Orphan began to sink into the pool and started to look like melting chrome.

As Orphan sank into the pool the l'Cie brands on the l'Cie **(no way)** had been scarred and scorched. They looked exactly like Fang's now.

Vincent felt his legs go weak and he fell to his knees. He sat on his heels and was trying to fight back the urge to jump up and attack his companions. Suddenly his heart started to pound against his ribs, his stomach started doing back flips, and he couldn't get enough air into his lungs. He clenched his hands and felt the steel claws sink into his left hand but it did not even come close to what he was feeling. He saw the room spin and assumed he was lying on his back now. Then something surged through his body. Something dark and powerful.

Everyone's gaze went to Vincent as the gunslinger fell to his knees. Then shortly after fall to his back. The nine ran over to the caped man and saw that his left hand was dripping blood, due to the claws on his gauntlet. Everyone's eyes grew wide as a bright blue light grew from the area near his heart.

**How come no one leaves reviews? Is my story not good enough for them? **

***starts muttering angrily to self***

**Oh, umm, yeah.**

**Anyways,**

**Next chapter ****should**** be the, sort-of, finale. The end of FF13 but not the end of the story.**

**Can you guess what is happening to Vincent? If you can ****REVIEW!**


	16. Old World, Old Problem

**As I said in the last chapter I'm not going to describe Orphan (part 2).**

**Note: bold brackets, ( ), mean Authors Note.**

Vincent lay on the floor convulsing and occasionally grunting in pain. With the bright blue light shining from his chest it was making everyone have different thoughts about what was happening. The l'Cie thought Vincent was going to turn into a Cie'th in a matter of moments. Tifa and Yuffie did not know what to think and Cloud was blaming the root of all his problems.

_Sephiroth, what the fuck are you doing?_ Cloud mentally shouted at his nemesis. Sephiroth replied with 'I can only affect you right now. Whatever is happening to him is not my doing.'

A high pitched laugh echoed through the room as the true Orphan rose out of the pool of mysterious liquid. Fang was on her feet and marching towards the fal'Cie, in an instant.

"You let him go!" Fang yelled with intense rage present in her voice "Now!"

"I am not making him suffer," Orphan calmly replied "It seems as if his time has run out."

Vincent was trying his hardest not to let the dark presence win. The protomateria was literally made for this purpose. He tried thinking about what could cause the presence to act up like this. Memories started to pour through his mind until one caught his mental eye. A Cetra poem, no, prophecy that Lucrecia had managed to translate.

_Ragnarok._

_Destruction embodied, Chaos contained._

_Destruction chooses, Chaos is forced._

_Two halves of the one._

_Destruction is born of conflict,_

_Chaos is sparked by a single action._

_They shall save the false paradise,_

_From a pure force._

_Halt the life of the corrupt and wicked,_

_Deliver the innocent to whence they came,_

_Into the hands of the master of fate._

_Destruction, Chaos,_

_The End,_

_Ragnarok._

Another thought struck Vincent immediately after. Holy was not going to be held back this time. Holy was going to destroy Cocoon because it did not see the tens of millions living on Cocoon. It only saw Meteor, its target.

Vincent knew he was the carrier of Chaos and now was the time for the prophecy. Chaos was trying to meet with its counterpart. He also knew that it was not going to be fun for the people around him when he transformed.

He reached up with his right hand and grabbed Cloud's shirt to get the blonds attention.

"Away," Vincent growled at Cloud.

"What?" Cloud replied confused.

"Get away from me. NOW!" Vincent growled and everyone heard him yell.

But it was too late. A wave of energy flung everyone away from Vincent. Fang did not feel the effect because she was not near the caped gunslinger. She turned towards the commotion and saw the others lying several feet from where they were a moment ago. A flash of red caught her eye and she saw that it was a wing.

A nine foot black ribbed wing with tattered, red webbing. She saw the other, identical, wing and felt a tear escape when she saw what the wings were attached to. Vincent's hair had become spikes that extended away from his front; his eyes had turned into glowing golden orbs. There were several other things that had changed but Fang did not get to see them due to her vision getting blurry with tears.

Lightning pushed herself up onto her elbows and gasped when she saw what used to be Vincent. She got to her feet and picked up Blaze Edge. She kept it in gun-mode and pulled the trigger back.

"Don't," The Cie'th commanded "It's not what you think."

Fang swore she just heard the Cie'th that was Vincent speak. But Cie'th couldn't speak, which meant one of two things. One there was more than what met the eye in this situation. And two, this was more fal'Cie smoke and mirrors.

Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Sazh, Snow, Hope, and Vanille got to their feet and just stared.

"No time to explain," Vincent said as a very menacing weapon appeared in his right hand "We have a world to save."

Everyone agreed with what Vincent said and charged at Orphan.

**Time Jump** **(**I'm sorry but it's hard to write a fight scene with something that **does not move)**

Orphan cries echoed around the room as it slowly descended back into the pool. There were small explosions periodically happening as Orphan slowly died.

"What have you done?" The last words from Orphan had a deeper meaning that only Cloud, Vincent and Hope knew.

Cloud heard Sephiroth laughing.

The room, and all of Eden, started violently shaking and everyone felt their feet leave the floor.

"Why are we flying?" Yuffie shouted.

"We're not flying," Hope replied calmly.

"Eden is falling," Sazh said continuing Hope's thought.

Vincent just let out a sigh as he aimed his gun, Death Penalty, at the roof and released a volley of shots. The roof came apart and everyone slowly drifted through the hole.

"Stay together!" Lightning yelled to the others.

"Hey grab my hand!" Sazh said, yelling just so they could communicate, to Hope who was almost out of his reach.

"Okay!" Hope replied.

Everyone had made a circle by grabbing wrists but Vincent and Fang were not present. Everyone looked down and saw Vincent and Fang facing each other.

Vincent had informed Fang about why she was not able to destroy Orphan by herself and why it was impossible for her to turn into Ragnarok. Fang had only taken the form of Destruction, Chaos was needed to complete the equation.

"Ready?" Vincent asked knowing the answer and not knowing why he even asked.

"Are you?" Fang replied with a smile as her brand started to glow bright red.

The eight in a circle watched as Vincent turned into a large sphere of purple energy and Fang turned into a large red energy sphere. They rocketed towards them twisting around through the air, they flew straight through the circle and a portal to Pulse appeared below the group.

They used the portal and landed on the ground of Gran Pulse. The portal faded out of existence after it was used. It was night on Pulse, which made the fall of Cocoon mimic Meteorfall almost exactly.

_Front row seat to the second Meteorfall _Tifa thought offhandedly.

It started to grow brighter and the group thought it was dawn but it was too white to be dawn. What looked like clouds raced overhead and started to swirl into a large spike underneath Cocoon. The group stared in wonder as Holy began to wrap around Cocoon and spread outwards underneath.

A sparkle appeared directly underneath Cocoon. Lightning sub-consciously reached up and went to grab her necklace with her right hand. The sparkle turned into a bright flash. Instantly, Holy and everyone who was viewing the event was crystallized, stopping Cocoon's descent and Holy's mission, permanently. **(**nothing different about the giant crystal structure under Cocoon**)**

Dawn broke the horizon and lit the area. As the morning wore on creatures of Pulse woke up and started their search for their morning meal.

When the morning had come and gone ships started descending from Cocoon. PSICOM and Guardian Corps ships ferrying down troops to create a safe zone for a future city. No one in the military knew that the once great Midgar sat behind their landing zone, almost completely covered in crystal.

Lightning released a breath when the crystal left her body. She looked around and saw the others exiting crystal stasis. Cloud looked up at the structure and remembered a small fact that should have been pointed out earlier.

"Fang? Vincent?" Vanille said looking around.

"They had to stop Holy," Cloud said flatly "Holy was meant to destroy Meteor, Cocoon. I guess the true purpose of Ragnarok was to stop Holy."

"Who's that?" Yuffie asked pointing towards the base of Holy, making everyone look.

"Serah!" Snow and Lightning shouted in unison as they began running towards her.

"Dajh!" Sazh shouted running for his son.

"Snow!" Serah shouted back and ran towards the trench coat wearing man. They met in an embrace.

A cheerful reunion was underway and Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, Vanille, and Hope started walking towards the happy group. Cloud however had dread running through his mind because he knew that at any time Sephiroth was going to show up.

Serah let go of the tall man and ran to hug Lightning. As they met Lightning felt nothing but happiness. Serah looked over Lightning's shoulder and saw smoke pouring from the ground and assumed it was just a Pulse thing.

"Hey," Snow said pulling Serah away from Lightning "We got a wedding to plan! You are going to allow it – right?"

"Snow," Lightning said in her soldier tone "After all we've been through," Her expression turned cheerful "I would like you be part of our family."

"Then allow me to be the first to congratulate you," A deep calm voice said. Everyone followed the sound to the smoke pouring from the ground.

The cloud of smoke contracted until it had the form of a person and started to run off the form like water in slow motion. Silver hair was enough to make everyone but Cloud take a step back.

"Is that-" Serah started.

Bright green eyes with slit pupils met everyone else's gaze.

"Barthandelus?" Snow thought aloud only having seen those eyes on the rogue fal'Cie.

The smoke had run off completely and revealed the form of the ultimate soldier, Sephiroth. A smile appeared on Sephiroth's face at Snow's thought of who it could be.

"No," Sephiroth said as a large black feathered wing erupted from the right side of his back "Something much worse."

**Cue Sephiroth's theme.**

**Next chapter is being carefully planned so it might be a while.**

**By the way, could someone write a better summary ****(250 character max) ****for this story? I will give you credit  
**

**Review please.**


	17. How it Began Part 1

"Sephiroth," Everyone but Cloud and Dajh said under their breath. Cloud knew this would happen and Dajh had not yet learned about him in school.

"Dad, why does that man have a wing?" Dajh asked his father, not understanding how dangerous the situation was.

Lightning remembered Tifa saying how many girls had 'wanted' the silver haired man. She could see why. Tall, obviously strong, handsome, and he had a very kind looking smile. The last thing was a deeply disturbing thought; someone with his notoriety should not have a kind smile. They should have a twisted, cruel looking smile, not one that makes you want to trust him.

"You're supposed to be dead," Serah stuttered as Sephiroth's gaze landed on her. Sephiroth just closed his eyes and laughed as he shook his head.

"Cloud killed you in the Northern Cave," Tifa supported as if giving a good argument would make Sephiroth go away.

"He did," Sephiroth said calmly, confusing everyone, other than Cloud "I will explain everything, but I want your other two companions here." Sephiroth waved his left hand and two spots in the air began to glow.

The light dimmed away and Fang and Vincent were left standing where the light was. They both looked around in confusion but instantly took an offensive stance when they saw the One Winged Angel of Death.

"What the?" Snow muttered not wanting to believe his eyes.

"Too make this long story short," Sephiroth said in a dismissive tone "I have controlled your every action since Serah foolishly wandered into the Vestige. All of you becoming l'Cie was an event five hundred years in the making. I guided, assisted and on occasion directly intervened with Barthandelus."

"You were controlling us?" Lightning growled at the silver haired elite "How?"

"Anima," Sephiroth said smugly "The most direct thing I did was hand deliver your Focus. To all of you, except Dajh."

"You made Serah a l'Cie?" Lightning growled again.

"Yes, Claire," Lightning hissed at Sephiroth for using her real name "When Serah wandered into the Pulse Vestige she set off the chain off events I had spent five centuries forging." Rage had started burning in Lightning's eyes "If you want the person that is directly responsible for you being made a l'Cie, she is standing beside Snow Villiers."

"Sephiroth," Tifa said as calmly as she could "What happened to the world?" Tifa asked the question because she knew Sephiroth would tell them regardless of the situation.

Sephiroth just let out his calm laugh and waved his left hand. Images started pouring through everyone's mind in unison.

* * *

A woman was lying in a white hospital bed, in Kalm General Hospital, holding her newborn boy. He had black hair just like his father who had died in Meteorfall two months ago. A knock at the door sounded before a doctor walked in and shut the door behind him.

"Oh, good, you're awake," The doctor said in the accent that was common to the area, but originated in Mideel "Now, Miss Yun; I'm here to do some basic tests to make sure your baby is healthy." The doctor grabbed the chair with wheels on the feet and rolled it over to the bed "May I?" He said holding his hands out, motioning for the baby.

Miss Yun handed her baby to the young looking doctor and noticed the wedding ring through his latex glove. She glanced at the I.D. tag, which said 'Dr. H. Dia'. She watched as the young doctor checked pulse, temperature, and breathing rate then move on to the child's eyes. She saw the doctor's expression go from cheerful to something else. He handed the newborn back to the woman and pushed a small button on the back of his name tag when she wasn't looking.

"What is it?" Miss Yun asked the doctor in the same accent.

"My arm got itchy while I was holding him," The doctor lied "So how long until do you think until he has a kid?"

"Twenty nine," Miss Yun replied without hesitation "My gut says he'll be twenty nine when he has a daughter. Do you have a child, doctor Dia?"

"No, my wife wants to wait a couple more years," A knock on the door made the doctor get up. He went and answered the door.

A Shinra Militia member stood just to the side of the door and he watched the doctor exit the room and close the door behind him. The doctor instructed the soldier to take the child to the isolation area of the hospital and get the head M.D.

The hospital administrator and lead M.D. was looking at the dead earth that would start recovering now that the reactors had been shut down. A knock on the door made him turn away from the depressing sight. He saw a soldier at the door and knew he was not going to like what he was about to hear. But he was used to receiving bad news.

He opened the door and saluted the private, as indicated by the symbol on his arm. He glanced at the private's dog tags to learn his name.

"What is it Private Estheim?" The Admin asked.

"Doctor Villiers, sir," Private Estheim said in the standard soldier tone "There is something that requires your attention."

Doctor Villiers knew that was never a good sign. His experience as doctor, dentist, and psychiatrist for the legendary first class SOLDIER operatives had made him a legend as well. Being, pretty much, the only medical advisor for the legends had made him always expect the worst possible outcome. All the time.

It took a few minutes to reach the isolation area, or quarantine zone, and those minutes were spent in silence. When they had passed through the third and final airlock the Admin saw what caused the fuss, a newborn baby. He walked over and opened they eyes of the child. Bright green met his gaze.

"Call the president," Villiers ordered "NOW PRIVATE!"

**Shinra's Secondary Headquarters, Junon**

"Sir?" A black haired man in a suit said to a blond in a white suit.

"What is it Tseng?" The blond said flatly.

"You got a call from Doctor Villiers; he said it's urgent you send someone to pick up something."

"If it's Villiers it's the truth." The blond stated as he mulled over who to send. _Who's better than the Turks?_ "I'm sending you. And take Reno and Rude they're getting annoying."

"Sir!" The black haired man said before bowing and leaving.

**Helicopter, Between Junon and Kalm**

"Hey Rude," A red haired man in a mistreated suit said playfully "You are starting to get good at flying choppers. Have you been practicing using the joystick?"

"Yeah," The bald dark skinned man replied

"In your spare time?" The red haired man asked with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah," Rude replied getting suspicious.

"While thinking of women?"

"Ye – Reno!" Rude shouted almost walking into another one of Reno's traps.

"Focus on piloting, Katzroy," Tseng said from the back "And Farron, shut up."

Reno slouched in his seat and crossed his arms, effectively making him look like a pouting five year old. He went back to sitting normally after he got uncomfortable and let his mind wander. He had always thought about what Tseng had told him on the day before the WEAPON attacked Midgar.

"_Farron, I would recommend you for the position of director if you weren't such a smart ass."_

"_So you rather me be a stupid dick?"_

_Tseng just gave a sigh and walked out of the room._

As he left that memory behind, he considered himself lucky. He was part of the Turks, the most elite fighters Shinra had, other than SOLDIER. The members at the moment were him, Rude Katzroy, Elena, who just got married, and Tseng.

"Hey, director?" Reno asked as a thought occurred to him "When is Elena coming back to work?"

"_Mrs._ Elena _Nabaat_," Tseng said flatly "Has resigned."

"Oh, cuz I thought-"

"Amazing, Farron," Tseng said both cutting off and insulting Reno. Rude just laughed at the red haired Turk. Reno went back to pouting like a child, but quickly went back to being . . . Reno.

"Hey Tseng, what's your family's name?" Reno asked for the umpteenth time.

"I'm still not going to tell you, so stop asking."

"I'll stop asking when you tell me." That statement made Tseng highly consider the offer. He was tired of Reno constantly asking that question.

"Rosch." Tseng said finally giving in to the happy-go-lucky smart-ass.

Silence fell on the helicopter and when Kalm was in sight a large _thing_ flew by the chopper. The thing looked like a blocky snake with arms.

"Was that a weapon?" Reno asked quietly.

"If it was, why aren't we dead?" Rude questioned back.

"I'll look into it when we get back," Tseng said putting them at ease, on a microscopic level.

**Kalm General Hospital, Kalm**

Doctor Villiers greeted the Turks on the roof of the hospital when they landed. He escorted them down to the isolation area and refused to talk about the reason they were there.

"How is your son?" Tseng asked calmly trying to make small talk.

"He's fine," The doctor replied to Tseng "He's in Wutai learning about their 'traditional' medicines."

Those were the only words that were exchanged throughout the trip from the roof to the ground floor. When the group of four passed through the three airlocks, with proper quarantine suits on, the Turks saw what all the fuss was about.

"Don't _ALL_ babies have blue eyes when their born?" Reno asked Rude.

"All but one," Tseng answered for Rude, knowing that the younger Turks had the same thought as him "Until now."

**There you go, some history for you. Next chapter will be the rest.**

**I know I am being an asshole by delaying the fight with Sephiroth but I had no other way of revealing this. **

**The fight scene is in production and will be epic. I will **_**try**_** to make it two chapters.**

**Don't hurt me for putting off the awesome fight.**

**Review Please.**


	18. How it Began Part 2

Sephiroth made them all watch as children that were born with green eyes had all manner of genetic tests performed on them. A plague erupted in Kalm which caused bruising, necrosis of the bruised skin and made blood into black sludge. In rare cases it made the victim turn into a creature, which was later given the title Cie'th, a Cetra word that meant monster.

The Shinra Company started funding the medical treatments that soon proved to be futile. Once it was discovered that no medicine worked on the mysterious plague the Shinra Company started executing the infected. But it continued to spread and the rare cases were starting to become more common. Shinra found out that all the newborns were immune, but few.

Shinra moved all finances into the space program. They developed a ship in less than four years, which could make it to Meteor and back, in less than a day. The president, Rufus Shinra, had ordered that every person on the planet is to be tested for the plague, the Sephiroth gene. Those that are clean could choose to stay or be sent to Meteor and those that are infected stay on Pulse or be executed if they fight.

Shinra had to wipe out most of Kalm. Parents of green-eyed babies moved to the port village of Oerba. Oerba was built after Meteorfall and sat north-west of the well known chocobo ranch. Shinra instructed the extermination of the population of Rocket Town because no one there was clean.

Five years after patient zero, Fang's father, was born the only clean people on Pulse, that wanted to leave, were standing in Rufus Shinra's office in Junon. Rufus had recently received the information that told him of the large beings on Meteor.

"The intel suggests that the beings have a high level of power and are completely peaceful," Tseng reported to the president.

"All citizens of Meteor will refer to these beings as fal'Cie," The white suit wearing blond said calmly while looking out the window.

"Fal'Cie? Sir?" The director of the Turks replied.

"It's a Cetra word that means master," Rufus said calmly "But this time humans are l'Cie, servants."

"What's wrong sir?" Tseng asked sensing there was something bothering his boss.

"I have signed the entire company over to my cousin, Grant Dysley," Rufus said offhandedly as he walked over to his desk and opened a drawer.

"What? Why?" Reno shouted from the door.

"Tseng make sure that there is at least one group somewhere that will carry on the spirit of Avalanche," Rufus then slipped of his white trench coat, placed it neatly on his desk grabbed his handgun out of the drawer, razed it underneath his jaw and pulled the trigger.

The three Turks ran over out of instinct. Reno and Rude had no idea what to do, but Tseng knelt down and lifted Rufus's shirt. The three gasped as they saw the symptoms of the plague. Tseng shot to his feet and backed away from the body of his boss.

"We need to go, we don't want to be stuck here," Tseng said calmly as he turned and walked towards the door.

"Yeah, don't want to miss the transport," Reno agreed while Rude wordlessly followed Tseng.

The images sped up as society on Pulse crumbled away in under ten years. Oerba was the only place with social order. The families that went there during Shinra's campaign had become clans that determined what you hunt. Former doctor Harold Dia, his wife and son had become the fishing 'clan' of the village. Marie Yun had taken her husbands rifle to hunt more dangerous beasts but switched to a spear when the ammo ran out. As more people came to Oerba their names changed depending on what they wanted to hunt.

On Meteor Grant Dysley had given a speech to the citizens of the new world. His speech had made everyone start Meteor, Cocoon, because he had said that a caterpillar looks its worst before it makes a cocoon and becomes a majestic butterfly. President Dysley had renamed Shinra, SOLDIER, and the Shinra Militia calling them Sanctum, PSICOM, and the Guardian Corps.

Twenty four years went by without any large note worthy event other than the Turks starting families on Cocoon and the birth of Oerba Yun Fang. Two years after that Oerba Dia Vanille was born. Nineteen years later Fang and Vanille were chosen by Sephiroth via Anima.

He made Fang become the incomplete Ragnarok and break the hole in Cocoon's shell. Sephiroth forced both Fang and Vanille into crystal stasis and placed them inside the Vestige. His action made the Sanctum return to Pulse and begin and finish a campaign of genocide.

Five hundred years of unremarkable history, in Sephiroth's opinion, later Fang and Vanille woke up. Thirteen days later Sephiroth's plan for rebirth began.

* * *

Everyone could not believe what they just shown. Centuries of history was shown to them in under an instant and the former l'Cie learned why Pulse was so feared on Cocoon. It was not fear of anything that lived on the planet; it was what was now standing in font of them.

"Fear, of me, made the Sanctum 'Purge' every person on Pulse," Sephiroth said with a smile still on his face.

"The War of Transgression was-" Sazh started to say.

"Was the genocide of those that lived on Pulse," Sephiroth finished "Are you surprised that the Sanctum covered that up?"

"W-Why would you show us this?" Hope asked with a stutter.

"I was going to show you this information anyway," Confirming Tifa's assumption "It was either now or when you all start begging for your lives."

"Pride comes before the fall," Lightning said as she drew her gun-blade.

"Are you saying I am being overconfident?" Sephiroth then laughed at the thought "I, the great General Sephiroth, the Silver Elite, SOLDIER first class Sephiroth being overconfident?" He laughed again "I have the power of a deity and you think you can defeat me?"

"Cloud defeated you!" Snow shouted raising his fists which made the others grab their weapons.

"I let him win," Sephiroth said while shaking his head "If one absorbs a vast amount of the life stream they will turn into a monster." Cloud felt like an idiot for not remembering that fact, which Sephiroth told him in the Nibleheim Reactor "By having my body destroyed I could absorb the life stream straight into my core. Besides Cloud could never best me in a duel, only another first could stand a chance."

Cloud felt every eye on him in an instant.

"He didn't tell you? He wasn't even a third. Just a Shinra Militia member. A pathetic cowardly excuse for a soldier."

"I was, however, infused with Mako for defeating you in Nibleheim," Cloud retorted earning him a glare from his enemy.

"None of these facts matter anymore," Sephiroth said loudly as he moved his left hand away from his body "I am going to cleanse this world," His seven foot sword appeared in his left hand "Of you parasitic creatures," He raised his right hand to the sky and dark storm clouds covered the area "And deliver the world," He brought his right hand down and thunder rumbled as rain began to pour "Back to its rightful owner," He lifted his sword so it was pointing straight up.

_That's a bad idea _Was the thought that went through everyone's head at the same time.

"My mother," Lightning struck Sephiroth's sword twelve times "Jenova," Sephiroth finished as he pointed his sword, with twelve lightning bolts swirling around it.

* * *

"See, told ya I would fix it!" Cid yelled at Barret and Red as they raced over terrain in the Highwind.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Barret said while waving his hand.

"What is that?" Red, or Nanaki, asked getting the two men's attention.

"Looks like a storm," Barret said dismissively.

"Well I sure as hell ain't takin mah baby anywhere near a storm," Cid stated "Now, where do ya think Chocobo would be?"

**Did that clear things up? I hope so.**

**Sorry for the short chapter.  
**

**Again, sorry for putting off the fight scene. I will TRY to make it TWO chapters or one LONG chapter.**

**Don't forget to review.**


	19. The Last Battle

When Sephiroth pointed his sword at the group twelve lightning bolts shot at them, one bolt per person. The faster members of the group, Cloud, Lightning, Fang, Yuffie, and Tifa managed to dodge the attack. Snow was hit twice hit by the one aimed for him and by shielding Serah. Sazh was also hit twice for shielding his son. Vanille just was not fast enough. Fang ran to the girl and took a defensive stance as Vanille started curing herself. Hope was also curing himself and a thought went through his head _Glad we still have the l'Cie powers._

"Serah!" Lightning yelled commandingly "Take Dajh and get out of here!"

"Tifa, Snow!" Cloud yelled over the thunder without looking away from Sephiroth "Get out of here!"

"After all we went through!" Snow said as he razed his fists "I am not going anywhere!"

"Neither am I!" Tifa said as she also razed her fists.

"You think fighting a rogue fal'Cie," Sephiroth said with a smile his voice carrying over the thunder "Even comes close to fighting a deity?"

As Serah started running away, while carrying Dajh, she hated that she was leaving her sister and fiancé behind. She wished there was something else she could do to help but this was the only thing.

Cloud saw Sephiroth's gaze flick to the fleeing civilians and knew full well what happens when you turn your back on him. Not wanting anyone to get hurt, well any civilians, he ran straight at Sephiroth. The silver haired swordsman parried Cloud's attack and vanished.

Serah heard the clash of steel behind her but kept running towards the base of the crystal. She stopped dead in her tracks as a giant wall of fire appeared out of nowhere.

"Never turn your back on someone like me," A deep calm voice said. Serah could feel the man's breath on her neck and sensed the aura of death the man cast off.

Lightning saw Sephiroth parry Cloud's attack and vanish. An explosion like sound made her turn around and she saw a fifty foot wall of fire and Sephiroth standing right behind Serah. Lightning felt her feet moving before she commanded them. She so focused on ramming her sword through Sephiroths black heart that she didn't notice the rain soaking her clothes and the deafening thunder of the summoned storm.

Cloud went straight into an all out sprint when he saw where Sephiroth was. As he flew by the others they joined him in charging at the man with the black feathered wing. With Cloud at the front he was the first to reach Sephiroth and the first to be attacked. He saw the black clothed man spin and attack; Cloud was just able to deflect the blow.

The wall of fire went out as Sephiroth and Cloud began a small duel. Lightning ran at Sephiroth's back and thrust Blaze Edge forward.

Sephiroth sensed the woman approaching and without even twitching he spun and blocked the attack. He made a small 'heh' as his and Lightning's gaze locked for a moment. He spun back around and continued attacking Cloud and Defending against Lightning. He was quickly getting bored with how slow this two on one duel was.

As the others approached the duel they saw that Lightning was going full speed against the long haired man and all of her attacks were being repelled or blocked. Sephiroth was not even facing Lightning most of the time.

Cloud lunged at Sephiroth at the same time Lightning did and Sephiroth just back flipped over Lightning and let them get tangled.

When Sephiroth landed he knew his back to the other fighters of the group and he knew that Snow's fist was about to collide with his head. At the last moment he tilted his head out of the way, jumped and back kicked Snow in the face.

Fang watched as the tall blond tumbled twenty feet away from where he was standing about two seconds ago. She thrust the lance at Sephiroth who sidestepped the attack and grabbed the outstretched lance. Fang felt her feet leave the ground and her back slam into the drenched ground an instant later.

Sephiroth sensed three spells heading towards him. He knew who had sent them and where they were. He teleported out of the spells range and stood facing the group. They were all back on their feet, drenched, and ready for more. That brought the smile back to Sephiroth's face and got a laugh. _They have no idea who they're fighting._

The group watched as Sephiroth razed his right hand again and all the rain was redirected to the spot above him. The water on the ground also started going the spot. It took a few seconds for a very large orb of water to form above the winged man.

Sephiroth brought his hand down and threw it forward. All the water that had collected above him gushed forward and quickly became a tidal wave.

Everyone who could, sent their strongest ice spells at the wave. In a matter of seconds the wave was frozen solid. The frozen wave shattered as Sephiroth burst through it and came soaring towards the group.

Sephiroth slashed at Cloud, who was to his left, but the blond had the Buster Sword up to block the attack. When the Masamune met the Buster Sword, Cloud was thrown back a dozen feet. Lightning slashed at Sephiroth, but missed again as the man stepped back. Sephiroth grabbed Lightning's right arm and threw her at Cloud, who was already on his feet. Lightning slammed into Cloud and they both were brought down from the impact. They both felt some ribs crack.

Vincent quickly focused on everything that made him burn with rage and focused it at Sephiroth. His transformation into the Galian Beast was done in record time. He charged at the black clothed man as he threw Lightning.

Vincent was getting close, just a few more feet until he could sink his claws and teeth into the source of the misery of many. He felt his right leg stop moving and commanded it to move. Then pain, severe pain shot from his right thigh. He looked to see what was causing him pain and saw a silver blade was through his thigh.

Sephiroth sensed the transformation of the red caped gunslinger. He let the beast get close before spinning to face the beast and planting the Masamune firmly in the beast's thigh. He razed his right hand and forced the beast to transform back into Vincent Valentine.

Vincent ignored the excruciating pain from his forced transformation and his thigh. He drew Cerberus and went to fire the last shot he had and was not surprised that he did not get the chance to.

Sephiroth let go of his sword and kicked the tri-mechanism revolver out of Vincent's hand. He grabbed his sword pulled it out of the man's thigh, grabbed him by the collar, swung him overhead, and slammed him into the ground.

Vincent felt the ground and most of his ribs crack.

Snow ran at Sephiroth and swung his right fist at the man ready with an icestrike. Sephiroth turned to him and was holding his sword vertically. He moved into Snow's fists path and Snow saw the sword go between his ring and middle finger. The sword sliced through Snow's hand down to his wrist. Snow yanked his hand back and Sephiroth's foot approaching his face again.

Sephiroth saw Fang run over to Vincent and just ignored her. He looked around and saw the boy, the dark skinned man, Vanille, Tifa, and the girl from Wutai. He teleported over to them and started attacking immediately.

Sephiroth started with a roundhouse kick to the boy's chest, launching him away. He sent condensed air at the dark skinned man, also launching him. He turned to the girls and saw Vanille and the girl from Wutai backing away. Tifa was in a fighting stance and had hatred in her eyes.

"You're the one I slashed in the reactor," Sephiroth stated to Tifa "How did you survive that wound? Would you be able to survive it again?"

Sephiroth charged at Tifa and used both hands for an overhead down slash. Tifa surprised all who were watching by catching the blade. They were with arms reach of each other so Sephiroth took his right hand off the handle and punched Tifa in the gut. She let go of the sword and stumbled backwards to the edge of Sephiroth's range.

Sephiroth brought his sword up on his left side and swung the sword on a downward path to the right.

Tifa ducked to the side and out of the way. She rolled to her feet and saw that Sephiroth had cut her hair so now it was down to the small of her back. Her gut hurt badly from the punch she received but she knew that she couldn't let something like that distract her. She watched Sephiroth face her and give her a smirk. A bolt flew from his right hand and hit Tifa in the chest, stunning her.

Once again Sephiroth brought his sword up on his left side and swung the sword on a downward path to the right.

Vanille ran over to Tifa, grabbed the martial artist's shoulders and pulled.

Tifa felt the tip of the sword bite into her flesh and retrace the scar from the first time Sephiroth attacked her. She then felt the cold wet ground against her back, but did not remember falling.

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled as he saw Vanille pull Tifa mostly out of Sephiroth's kill zone. He saw that Tifa was injured just like in the reactor and that caused a lot of anger to pour into his mind.

Vanille knelt beside Tifa and started casting cure. She needed to stop the bleeding before Tifa passed out. Vanille knew the living nightmare was watching her.

Cloud ran at Sephiroth but did not get a chance to attack. Sephiroth had forced two lightning bolts to strike the blond simultaneously. Cloud watched as Lightning shot past him with Blaze Edge ready to strike.

Sephiroth easily blocked the pink haired woman's attack. He started slashing at her gradually going faster and faster. He was honestly surprised that someone without genetic enhancements could move so fast, but he assumed it was just adrenaline that was speeding her up.

Lightning knew Sephiroth was just toying with her which was just fuelling her fire. Though she would have been surprised at how fast she was moving if she wasn't supercharged with anger, hatred, and adrenaline. She had managed to get within arms reach of the self-proclaimed deity, which surprised everyone who was able to watch.

They came to rest as their swords locked forming a lopsided X between them. They were staring into each others eyes with different expressions. Lightning had anger and hatred, Sephiroth had an entertained look.

"Claire Farron," Sephiroth said to Lightning "What is worse? Watching your sister die? Or knowing that you will be leaving her all alone?" Lightning's reaction to the last question answered it.

Sephiroth grabbed Lightning's right hand with his right hand and pushed it away from his sword. He lifted his sword and slammed the pommel into Lightning's forehead.

When the handle of Sephiroth's sword met Lightning's head she stumbled back and saw stars. Sephiroth took a step back put both hands on the Masamune and pulled it back. Sephiroth stepped forward and thrust the sword forward.

Serah watched in horror as the blood smeared silver blade slid out of her sister's right side.

**Don't forget to review.**


	20. A New Dawn

Blaze Edge hit the wet ground with a muffled thud and a tiny splash. Lightning was having trouble breathing. She looked down and saw that the sword had passed through the belt of her coat, then her lung, and the shock from being stabbed was keeping the pain subdued. But soon the shock would wear off and the pain would hit her like a train.

Lightning heard everyone yell both her given and taken name. The only one that had registered was Serah's cry. Her sister was going to be alone after this. The only Farron left. Lightning saw her vision get blurry and soon felt tears roll down her face. She looked away from the growing red spot on her coat and into the vicious green eyes of the one impaling her.

Sephiroth had pushed most of the Masamune's blade through Lightning so they were a little more than a foot apart. He leaned over so their faces were almost touching.

"Don't worry," Sephiroth said in a soothing tone "Your sister will be joining you, before too long."

The shock had finally passed and the pain had set in. Lightning could not stop the tears from rolling down her face. She had worked so hard to see Serah again. Most of her youth was spent keeping Serah happy but now it all meant nothing. She felt the sword begin to move, begin to twist. Lightning tried to stop what was working its way out of her mouth, but failed as the blade kept twisting.

Cloud had just recovered from the dual lightning strike and climbed uneasily to his feet. His expression turned from anger to horror when he saw the blade sticking out of Lightning's back. He went back to anger when he heard Lightning scream in pain. Cloud razed the Buster Sword and started running with all his might. He jumped into the air, razed the sword above his head and was ready to slice the silver haired nightmare in half, vertically.

Sensing the movement Sephiroth stepped back, pulled the Masamune out of Lightning, turned around and he saw Cloud jump into the air. Sephiroth knew there were several emotions clouding the mind of the blond which made him let down his defence, so he simply thrust his sword into the unprotected gut of the blond.

Cloud knew he made a mistake as soon as he saw Sephiroth pull his sword free. The world slowed down as Sephiroth spun around, pointed his sword at Cloud and gave it a push. Cloud felt it slide through the SOLDIER belt, his gut, and then the belt again. He let his arms fall to his sides before grabbing the Masamune with his left hand. Cloud knew the blood smeared blade was a hair width away from his spine.

Lightning collapsed when Sephiroth pulled his sword free. She sat on her heels with holding her right side. She knew tears were still pouring from eyes and blood was still running from the wound onto her clothes and into her lung.

Lightning looked up and saw Cloud, four feet off the ground with Sephiroth's sword through his gut. She looked around and saw everyone else was either seriously injured or sitting on the ground with a broken spirit. Blaze Edge lying on the ground caught her eye. She reached over and grabbed it off the ground.

"Why do you hate humans?" Cloud managed to ask Sephiroth.

"They're weak beings who would rather destroy anything and everything than admit their failure," Sephiroth replied calmly "They are parasites to the planet. Only taking, never giving."

"You were born from a human mother," Cloud grunted painfully.

"You can't choose your family or your fate. Outside forces can, though," Sephiroth said obviously referring to himself.

"Whether you like it or not you are part human," Cloud said right before a deafening boom of thunder. He saw Lightning grab her sword and switch it to gun-mode during the thunder "And you have our weaknesses," Cloud hissed at Sephiroth as a shot rang out.

Sephiroth's eyes widened as the shot ripped through his left side. His left arm gave in immediately which caused him to pull the sword out of Cloud's gut. He hated himself for letting his guard down for even a moment.

Cloud fell to one knee when he hit the ground. He sent a glare at Sephiroth as Lightning raised Blaze Edge again. Four more shots pierced the silence and tore their way through Sephiroth's torso.

"What? How?" Sephiroth asked the air in confusion "I'm supposed to cleanse this world of you beings," He turned to glare at Lightning. He lifted his sword for a horizontal slash.

Cloud leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain in his gut, and lifted the Buster Sword. A blue aura surrounded Cloud as he started to slash at Sephiroth's back. The speed of the slashes got faster and faster until it was almost one continuous slash. Cloud jumped into the air, the Buster Sword glowing bright blue. He brought the sword down through Sephiroth, causing feathers to go in every direction.

The rain and the thunder had ceased and the clouds were beginning to let rays of light through. A dust-like smoke started rising from Sephiroth as he dropped his sword. The Masamune disappeared before it hit the ground.

"No one chooses their fate," Lightning growled at Sephiroth.

"But outside forces can determine it," Cloud added, also as a growl.

Sephiroth started laughing as his wing disintegrated into the black smoke. He shook his head before turning and walking over to Cloud. Sephiroth stood in front of the blond, looked down at him and made a statement that made Cloud's blood run cold.

"Death did not stop me before. Why should that change?"

No one noticed three small streams of black smoke run from Sephiroth's right hand into the ground. Sephiroth gave one more laugh before he was reduced to a cloud of dust-like smoke and blew away in the breeze that started.

Serah put down Dajh and sprinted to Lightning. She knelt next to her sister and wrapped her arms around Lightning. Tears were rolling down her face as she begged Lightning to not leave her alone.

Snow was sitting on his heels holding his hand that was cut in half. He looked up to the sky where the clouds were getting lighter and breaking apart. A rain drop hit his face but it felt warm and soothing. The rain increased and Snow's head dropped down unintentionally, because of blood loss, and he saw his l'Cie brand disappear in a swarm of little green lights. He started to feel more energized and noticed hand stopped hurting. He looked at it and the wound was gone, not even a scar.

Fang saw the same effect with her brand and Vincent's leg. Tifa's wound closed and the scar was removed, her shirt was also mended but her hair was still only down to the small of her back.

As everyone felt the healing effects of the rain they stood up and regrouped. Everyone put their weapons away as they exchanged looks of bewilderment. They had just defeated, well Lightning and Cloud defeated, the most powerful being to walk the face of the world.

"What is this?" Vanille asked holding her hands out in font of her, letting the healing rain land on her hands.

"A small thanks," Cloud heard a familiar male voice say. He turned and saw a man, a bit bigger than himself, with black spiky hair. Cloud knew he was the only one who could see or hear him "Don't worry. We won't let him mess with the life stream. Again."

"Zack?" Cloud asked, not knowing why he did.

"Two things before I go. One, tell her how ya feel, she feels the same way so nothing bad can happen," Zack said in his famous playful tone "Two, go visit sector five some time soon. And don't forget flowers," With that Zack's image faded away, the rain stopped and the clouds broke apart.

Serah was still hugging Lightning but crying out of happiness. Lightning got Snow to, pretty much, pry Serah off of her.

"A new life awaits us all," Vincent stated with happiness showing on his face "One without someone pulling strings, or forcing decisions."

Yuffie saw the Highwind in the distance and started smiling and laughing.

"We should get Cid's attention," The young ninja said to everyone. Hope was about to try using firaga but glanced at where his l'Cie brand use to be and felt both happy and sad.

Tifa raised her arm with the materia on it and a fireball flew from her hand and exploded when it was high in the air. Everyone saw the sudden change in the airships path and knew Barret and Red would not like Cid for that.

"Lightning," Cloud started but froze up when everyone turned to face him. The pink haired woman was only three feet away from him so she could see the discomfort on his face.

_Why does EVERYONE have to look when I clearly asked for only one person's attention? To do something like this with everyone looking is nerve wracking . . . Wait, we just defeated Sephiroth and I'm scared of this? Good to know there is something I fear more than him._ Cloud thought.

"I . . ." Cloud froze again. _Oh, to hell with it. We both feel this way._

With everyone watching Cloud stepped forewords grabbed Lightning and pulled her into a kiss, which Lightning returned right away.

"Well that was rather foreword," Vincent stated as he cocked an eyebrow.

"Your one to talk," Fang said quietly as she nudged Vincent with her elbow. They both started laughing quietly and Vanille was confused about why they were laughing.

**Yay! Happy Ending! I almost thought it wouldn't be . . . **

**I know there was not a whole lot of Cloud/Lightning romance, but if you noticed, the story did focus on them.**

**I will continue this story as a sequel. Because the love life of two adrenaline charged 21 year olds is just soooo G rated. Expect an M rating and major OOC-ness from Cloud and Vince in the sequel, but hey, it's understandable. Right?**

**Yes I was referring to a couple of story elements for the sequel. Now I just need to start writing it and come up with a title, which I suck at. I suck at Titles, not writing. If I sucked at writing people wouldn't have read this.**

**Points to those who review.**

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The sequel is up and titled 'Remnants of the Past' it is M rated for events not yet in the story.  
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